


Vampires, Tigers and Weres, Oh my.

by FazedMuttley



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Vampires, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-24 21:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30078870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FazedMuttley/pseuds/FazedMuttley
Summary: A world where Humans walk the Earth oblivious to the world around them. Overwatch exists to protect the humans, Blackwatch to punish those who reveal the worlds secrets.Vampires not like the ones in legend, have many interesting quirks depending on their bloodline, some are well behaved feeding only when they need to, but others.Were-Creatures easily blend in, but when their emotions get the better of them their true natures can be revealed. Some are better at hiding their Shifts than others.Humans the vast majority of the worlds population, often frowned upon by others who inhabit their world with them.Our story follows a Vampire out of time, a Were with a lovable nature and poor emotional control. Along for the ride is an oblivious human who is about to be awakened to the world around them.
Relationships: Emily/Lena "Tracer" Oxton, Emily/Lena "Tracer" Oxton/Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix, Emily/Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix, Lena "Tracer" Oxton/Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix
Comments: 47
Kudos: 39





	1. Vampire in London

Amélie had awoken from her slumber a couple of hours earlier, she had been more disorientated than she felt she should have been, however as always after hibernation, the first thing on her mind was feeding, the incessant call of her thirst all but drowning out coherent thought, if she left it much longer, she would succumb to her baser instructs, an idea which _disgusted_ her.

This is why she found herself in an alleyway with her fangs in a drunk’s throat, his blood tasted foul, salty and polluted by the alcohol he had engorged himself on throughout the evening, when she had taken just enough blood to remove the edge of her thirst, she lowered the unconscious man to the ground and licked her thumb, before placing it against the wounds in his neck, when she saw them begin to close she moved on, her heels echoing on the walls around her as she walked into the street.

It did not take too long for her thirst to call to her once again; it was expected as the drunk’s blood was repulsive, so she had taken little; she shook her head slightly to try and clear it from her mind. London had changed a lot during her hibernation, people walked the streets looking at what appeared to be portable screens, she could see people of all ages in various different styles of dress, some women wearing clothing that left little to the imagination. _How times have changed_.

She herself had broken into a store and acquired more contemporary clothing shortly after waking, they were comfortable she had to admit, but she had not taken much care in her selection simply what seemed most appropriate at the time, admittedly she was lacking experience in this new world.

She walked for nearly an hour taking in the sights and sounds of New London, however it was as she was nearing Trafalgar Square that she noticed someone who attracted her attention, a girl, she wore unusual spectacles and had short unladylike hair. The girl was leaning against the side of a building looking at her screen, she appeared to be crying, which was perfect. A snack she could manipulate, and she would be much tastier than the drunk.

By the time she approached the girl she had the screen next to her ear and appeared to be speaking into it which caused Amélie to frown.

“… why did you do it?” the girl was quiet for a moment “You’re cheating on me” she was crying again “Stop it!” silence again before she shouted, “Goodbye Emily!” and did something to the screen before putting in her coat. After a few minutes of struggling to control her tears, the girl pushed off the wall and Amélie made sure to intercept, ensuring that the girl bumped against her which was easier than expected since she was looked at her shoes, worn red things Amélie was unfamiliar with.

The girl looked up at her to apologise but stopped short Amélie saw her rather large eyes widen, a beautiful brown with flecks of gold, they were transfixed on her own. Amélie used her power to hold her gaze, it was not like the legends said, not hypnosis more of a focused suggestion, something that would take root in a person’s mind before they felt compelled to accept it, complex instructions rarely worked, concise ones however, were more likely to succeed.

“Go home” Amélie said simply and walked on. After a few steps she turned back and saw the girl shaking her head in confusion, before she changed direction, Amélie smiled it appeared her manipulation was somewhat successful, so, she followed.

Eventually the girl opened the door to what appeared to be an apartment building using some form of box next to it, Amélie moved forward and caught the door just before it closed and allowed herself entry, recalling the stories about how a Vampire must be welcomed and how outlandish most of the tales about her kind truly were.

Once the door was shut behind her and she was sure she was alone, she closed and eyes and inhaled, it was easy to find the girls trail from her perfume, she was not a kind of Were, but a Vampires sense of smell was more than serviceable. She followed the trail up some stairs leading to the upper floors, it stopped at on Orange door marked with the number thirteen. She smiled to herself for a moment before she knocked having missed the thrill of closing in on her prey. She could hear some footsteps; a deadbolt being pulled and finally the door handle.

“He…” Amélie grabbed the girl before she could finish speaking, she yelped and went to scream but Amelie’s hand covered her mouth in an instant and pinned her to the wall kicking the door closed with her foot.

“Greetings _Chérie_ ” Amélie said with a smile and dragged the girl further into her own home, it was a one room apartment, rather small, modestly decorated a bit bare she had to admit, she smirked as she pushed the girl toward the bed catching sight of the union jack flag that hung above the headboard.

As they landed on the mattress the girl tried to scream again, unsuccessfully however as she was still muffled by the Vampire’s hand. Amélie showed her fangs and smiled again “I am so _very_ thirsty”

She felt hands pushing strongly against her chest, the attempts to get free were easily ignored but Amélie liked the fact the girl had spirit, she leaned down placing her lips against the girl’s neck and sucked on her skin for a few seconds to find a vein, once she found one, she sunk her fangs in deep.

The blood was like a fine wine, rich in taste, yet sweet all the same, this girl clearly lived a healthy life, Amélie’s body was ablaze with delight, this blood was just, _divine._

Eventually the girl stopped fighting her and was almost limp, her breathing had become softer as her body surrendered to her captor completely, Amélie having sated her thirst pulled away, her senses once again at their peak, she could hear the soft beat of the girl’s heart.

The girl slowly raised her hand to her neck, this small action seemed to expend much of her remaining energy. Her eyes were filled with tears and fear, Amélie saw emotion flicker in them the moment the girls foggy mind began to clear, and she realised what had just happened. For the first time in her exceptionally long life Amélie felt guilty after feeding, but it was a soft voice that drove the stake home.

“I don’t want to d-die” her voice was trembling, taking unnecessary breaths as she panicked.

Amélie looked at her neck as the girl’s hand slipped away no longer having the strength to hold it in place. Amélie licked her fingertip and sealed the wounds watching them fade away into nothing. “You are not going to die”

“Wha..” the girl tried.

“I am a vampire” Amélie said simply “Your blood, sustains me, but I would never take it all”

“P-please don’t let m-me die” Amélie felt the pain in the girl’s voice.

“As I said, you will not die, _Chérie_ ” Amélie smiled softly in an effort to reassure her “You are simply going to fall asleep”

“I’m s-scared”

“Trust me, _Chérie,_ you will be fine” Amélie said softly, she looked into the girl’s eyes. She placed a hand on her cheek “Tell me your name?”

“L-Lena” the girl replied but her eyes were closing now, she tried begging for help again but the words died on her tongue.

“Lena” Amélie demanded, and the girl’s eyes opened for a moment to meet her own and she once again held the girl under the power of her Vampiric gaze “Sleep and forget”

The girl not having much strength left fell asleep almost instantly. Amélie tucked her into her bed as gently as she could, she moved to the kitchen counter and picked up the girl’s screen.

Vampires had many unique abilities, Amélie herself was particularly good at manipulating people with her mind and she was one of the few that had the ability to _Day walk_ , that itself came with age. The most innate ability vampires possessed however was having access to the memories and thoughts of those they feed from for a brief time.

So Amélie used Lena’s, to educate herself as much as she could on knowledge that may prove useful in this new time period, she couldn’t see everything only basic information, such as recent memories, most of the time she simply ignored them, like the drunk she had fed from, what could he have possibly taught her, all she appeared to have access to at the time was a drunken haze of music and smells before she dismissed them from her mind.

It appeared she had been asleep for nearly a hundred years given the current date, the screen she held was actually a telephone, and had access to a multitude of applications to assist in day-to-day life, she scoffed at that, had humanity really progressed so far yet so little, although the more she thought about it, some of those applications could make feeding easier, they may as well have called this Tinder application, Blood bank.

Having picked out the details she needed, she contemplated what to do next, her mind however kept being drawn to what she had picked up from Lena, most notably going to the girls feeling of betrayal. This Emily, she was going to dismiss it until a face appeared in her mind’s eye.

Without thinking much on what she was doing, she moved towards Lena’s door, locked it and walked back across the room this time towards the window not the bed, she glanced at the London skyline as opened it, recognising a few locations most notable Elizabeth Tower.

She glanced backwards and saw, the girl, Lena, she was sleeping soundly “ _Adieu Chérie_ ” she said softly.

She stepped out of the window feeling the rush of air as she fell, with grace she controlled her decent and dropped into the alleyway in a crouch, Lena’s memories flashed briefly to an image of a man wearing blue tights and a red cape, Amélie frowned as she could not figure out in the slightest why anything about this image was _Super_.

She stood with a shake of her head and walked once again through the darkness into the streets of London. Emily’s face appeared one fine time in her head as Lena’s memories finally faded, along with exactly where to find her.


	2. Were in London

Emily scratched behind her ear, a habit she had possessed for majority of her life, one that mainly presented itself when she was upset, nervous or simply unhappy in some way and tonight, she found she was a mixture of all three. _Why did it have to go wrong?_

Usually, she enjoyed spending time in her own flat, it was her safe place somewhere she did not have to hide, where the people outside who remained oblivious to the world’s true nature had no effect on her. But in here she could allow her non-human aspects to be free without fear of any consequences.

This evening had not been a pleasant one, it was supposed to be a special occasion. However, Lena had caught her with what she assumed to be another girlfriend. At least that was Emily’s assumption of Lena’s assumption, and frankly it was the only thing that made sense to the redhead, given the girls reaction. The person she had been with was in reality her cousin, who had been there for nothing more than moral support.

The two had been locked in a welcoming embrace that was normal to them or their kind, thinking back she realised what kind of message the actions would present to an outsider.

A greeting or show of affection that was usually reserved for family and those that you loved, three simple actions to show them you cared and had nothing to fear, a kiss on the cheek before you rub your own against theirs and finally leaning backwards for just a moment so you can press your foreheads to one another not hiding your gaze and showing you trusted them in this affectionate moment.

It was only when her cousin had pressed their foreheads together and she returned her smile that Emily had seen Lena’s mortified face as she watched from the doorway, before finally running from the café. Emily had tried to give chase in a panic, calling out after her for a chance to explain but she lost sight of Lena quickly in the London crowds and Lena knew these streets better than anyone. Her cousin had caught up moments after and forcefully pulled Emily’s hood over her head to cover her ears that had been on display for all to see, she had not even realised she partially shifted.

“Was that her?” her cousin had asked, “The one you needed help coming out to?”

Emily had been heartbroken of course and she was still if she were being honest with herself, what was supposed to be a wonderful night where she would induct Lena into their world, she should have realised that her kinds cultural affection would be seen as something else and asked her cousin to avoid it, until Lena was ready.

Sometimes she wished she were a wolf, and this was one of those times, they had no specific greetings outside of their wolf form except perhaps a hug, but no she was a cat. A ridiculously cute cat she had been told, apparently more so when she changed into one of her other forms. It was in one of these forms where she first met Lena, when she was wondering the streets as a _Marine Coon._

She much preferred her smaller cat form as opposed to her larger one, and she could not really imagine herself as anything else let alone a wolf, besides, she hated the smell of wet dog. But she surmised that could be because of her feline nature.

She sighed and let herself fall to the side so she was lying on her sofa, she could hear her cousin in the kitchen making them some food as her tail curled around her waist, the soft smell of fish greeted her nose and the bubbling of the fat fryer that cooked the chips, Fish and Chips was one of Lena’s favourites, she sighed wistfully.

It was only when her phone started to ring that she moved, in a couple of seconds she had jumped over the back of the sofa with what could only be described as feline prowess, in the kitchen a moment later with the phone in her hand, as she answered it she caught sight of her cousins amused smirk their tail swishing as they cooked.

“Hello” Emily said, there was a just a moment of silence before the caller spoke.

“… why did you do it?” Lena asked softly.

“It’s not what you think she’s my cousin, its complicated but I was going to explain it all to you tonight”

“You’re cheating on me” Lena was crying now, and Emily found her hand grabbing her tail nervously as she worried her lip.

“Lena, I’m not” Emily heard her own voice break “Please just come to my flat, let me, us explain, there are things you don’t know”

“Stop it!”

“Lena please, I’m not cheating on you”

“Goodbye Emily!” the line went dead, and Emily’s feet gave out from under her dumping her unceremoniously onto the floor.

Her cousin walked around the counter and crouched in front of her before pulling her up into a hug. She loved her cousin, she was more of her sister really, Emily had never met her mother or father, she had been raised by her aunt alongside her cousin.

“Just give her tonight” her cousin said “Try and call her in the morning”

“It’s not that simple”

“Emily Hawkins” her cousin said, “When do you ever give up?”

“Piper” Emily said sadly with a sniffle “I love her, the first sin… since…”

“Shh” Piper chided “I know” she pulled away and looked Emily in her eyes “Go sit down kitten, I’ll get us some food and we’ll watch a movie” Emily nodded, she did not even have the motivation to argue against the use of _kitten_. Yes, Piper was older than her, but Emily was not in any way a kitten.

She sat back of the sofa and started playing with her tail. When Piper brought over their food they ate in silence, it was not the same without Lena here, she was supposed to be with them, she was supposed to be learning about their world while they shared Lena’s favourite meal, she should be seeing Emily when she did not have to hide who she truly was.

They were about forty minutes into the movie, it was one they had seen before, but it was one of her favourites and she knew Piper was not a fan of the Avengers movies, yet her cousin sat watching it with her anyway in an effort to cheer her up. She continued watching for a bit longer trying to take her mind of her wayward thoughts. Captain America just threw his Frisbee at some unfortunately soul when there was a tapping at her balcony door.

Emily frowned and turned her attention back to the movie, she needed the distraction, and her imagination was not going to get the better of her, after a minute or so the tapping came again, she looked over at Piper and she had the same confused look on her face. They were on the fifth floor. Piper stood, moved to the door and pulled the curtain aside, her eyes widened before she spoke “What the fuck” she opened the door and looked at Emily sheepishly, as someone stepped in.

Emily hissed in anger rising to her feet and glaring at the newcomer, there was a tense silence before they spoke “ _Bonjour, Ma tigresse”_ at those words Emily’s anger grew and she felt herself shift, not into her lovable housecat, but into her other form, the one that coined that very petname.

Amélie dived to the side as the _Bengal Tiger_ lunged for her. The other girl had extracted herself to the kitchen watching with both shock and awe, and Amélie knew why. Emily rarely let herself slip into this form, much preferring to avoid it unless it was a deliberate shift.

She lay where she fell taking a breath, she knew not to move and her eyes found their way to where Emily paced in front of her, those beautiful green eyes locked onto her prone form waiting for her to do anything that could be perceived as defiance, she knew that if she stood Emily would lunge for her again, she was angry. As much as Amélie hated giving into her own baser instincts, she had always found Emily so beautiful when she gave into her own, this was the first time however that she was on the receiving end of her anger.

“You are beautiful” she found herself saying, Emily roared in response. _Okay no compliments, understood._ She very slowly bowed her head in submission keep her eyes on Emily.

“Em” came a soft voice, Amélie looked over and saw the other girl she now recognised as Emily’s cousin. Emily looked over at the girl and her demeanour changed almost instantly, she looked down for a moment and Amélie watched her fur and muscle recede as she shifted back into her human form.

Emily sat their naked, in front of her cousin and Amélie, she felt so much pain, she had failed Lena by breaking her heart even if it were an accident, she was heartbroken herself at the thought of Lena believing she betrayed her and now Amélie was here after a near hundred-year absence. She sighed and let her ears and tail back out, grabbing the latter and playing with it in her hands.

“I woke up around earlier this night” Amélie said softly, Emily looked up at her and saw she was now sat across from her “I needed to sate my thirst” Emily had no idea how Amélie had even found her that fast. She had changed her identity and moved several times since they were last together.

“Okay” Emily replied simply ignoring that fact for now as tears rolled down her cheeks, she looked away and saw the ruins of her clothes on the floor, and sobbed again bring forth more tears, Lena had bought her that t-shirt, as she sniffled and worried her lip she felt familiar arms enclose around her for the first time in a long while.

“I am sorry I was gone so long” Amélie said “I do not know why my hibernation was extended” Emily looked up at her and could smell the fresh blood on her breath, it seemed somewhat familiar, but she was not an vampire or a wolf so she had no way to know for certain. So, she focused on what Amélie had said.

“There was another war” Emily admitted sadly. “So many of us were lost, I thought you were among them”

“Another war” Amelie repeated in disbelief, Emily knew why, they had both fought in the first one, and Amélie was forced into hibernation shortly after it to preserve her bloodline, before she could be revived the second war started and Emily had found herself fighting again, and most of the hibernation chamber were lost, destroyed or buried in the bombing and never found, she did not have the heart to tell Amélie that she was now one of the last pureblood vampires.

“How did you find me?” Emily asked to break the silence. She did not miss the guilt that appeared on Amelie’s face.

“I thought it would be more difficult” Amélie said softly “I found a girl crying in the street and followed her home” Amélie looked at her with sadness in her eyes, no it could not have been Lena could it, “She knew you; I saw your face in her memories, where you lived.”

Emily looked at Amélie and asked, “Is she a-alive?” Amélie nodded.

“You know I do not kill those I feed from” Amélie took her hand “If I had known, I would not have chosen her, I am sorry Elise”

“As long as she’s safe” Emily looked at Amélie and she nodded and shared with her what had happened in Lena’s flat.

During the story Emily kept finding her gaze falling on the Wedding Ring Amélie still wore, she rubbed her finger against it once Amélie had finished and when she knew Lena was indeed safe, before crawling to her ruined clothes and picking through them, the chain was ruined it fell through her fingers as she picked it up leaving the ring resting on her palm catching the light.

Amélie watched as her wife returned the wedding ring to her finger, she had given it to her so long ago, yet it was well looked after and still shone as bright as the day she had placed it there herself. She bit her lip with one of her fangs as her Tigress crawled back to her with a timid smile. She waited as Emily kissed her cheek, rubbed their cheeks together and finally pressed their foreheads against one another.

They looked into each other eyes Emily starting into golden irises while Amélie lost herself in an emerald pool remembering the day they married all those years ago, when Emily was Elise Guillard.


	3. Morning After

“Oxton!”

Jesse watched as Lena was shaken from her absentminded gaze and brought back into the world, he had only called out to her when he realised there was something wrong, she had been holding the same glass for around ten minutes, part way through cleaning it is operating on autopilot. He had some suspicions about what had happened and if he were right, which he hoped he was not, she should be in bed, but he knew Lena would not miss work if she could help it. She could not afford it. She took as many shifts as she could, and he had watched the human push herself further than she could manage many a time.

“Sorry Jesse, had a crap night, don’t remember most of it, woke up really tired and feeling weird”

“Do you need to take a nap or something before we open up?” Jesse looked at his watch “We have a couple of hours; I can manage setup by my lonesome”

“You don’t mind love?” she asked perking up a little at the offer.

He chuckled “Of course not” he nodded to the staff door “Go on” Lena put down what she was holding and moved past the man, as she passed, he gave a subtle sniff which he disguised as clearing his throat.

Jesse watched her leave waiting for the staff door to close behind her. He sighed and removed his hat to scratch his ears, his hand ran from his head down his face to his beard as he wondered what he should do, he supposed he should follow the rules, so he placed his hat back on and pulled out his phone, selecting his first speed dial option. It was picked up after three rings.

“What do you want kid?”

“Lena” Jesse said softly “She’s been bitten by a vamp and is pretty out of it”

Gabriel sighed “Seriously?”

“Yup, can still smell them on her”

“Where is she now?”

“I sent her to nap in the staff room” Jesse replied “Thought I would let you know in case I need to send her home and to report it to my alpha like a good little pup”

“You’re not funny McCree” Gabriel laughed anyway “You moved from pup to royal pain in my ass about sixty years ago”

“Good to know” Jesse chuckled “Anyways should I send her home?”

“Keep her there if you can, don’t bother opening” he sighed again “I really didn’t want to speak to Morrison today”

“Don’t envy you, boss” with that Gabriel hung up. Jesse smiled, as it looked like the bar was not opening today and he was on babysitting duty, he laughed he could remember the last time he has done so, well for him it was more puppysitting and they had been biters, he was sure he could handle one sleeping human.

»»———— ★ ————««

Amélie awoke and she smiled when she felt Emily’s ears on her chin. She glanced around the room and saw Piper asleep on the chair that she had occupied the previous evening after everything had calmed down. Emily, _it was still weird referring to her with a new name_ , had not explained what had happened between her and Lena and Amélie had not questioned it, she knew it had not been the time.

Her attention moved around the room, Emily’s apartment was beautifully decorated and nowhere near as bare as Lena’s, so that gave Amélie an inkling that Lena may have been somewhat poor, or at least less well off than her wife. She turned her attention to the television it once again showed a selection of movies on the screen which it must have done itself after the one they were watching had finished, Emily and Piper explained that it was a ‘ _smart TV’_ , what that meant was still beyond her understanding, and showed her an application called Netflix, while she was overwhelmed by the sheer number of movies available, she had been both distracted and amused as they argued about which film to watch.

Amélie had left them to their debate and watched the one they eventually selected, she could not recall the name, but it involved many explosions and strange vehicles, one of which was driven through a tall building that Piper informed her was a Skyscraper. It had been entertaining but the highlight of the evening for Amélie was holding her wife in her arms again and waking up with her ears tickling her chin. Her wife then attracted her attention.

“I like you being dead” Emily said sleepily as she snuggled closer “Means you stay comfy”

“Nice to know” Amélie chuckled “Although only the Turned die, I just stopped”

Emily moved so she was facing her, her green eyes blinking at her a few times, before she raised a small finger and moved it towards her face, Amélie felt it poke her cheek and smiled “Ha, you moved” Emily giggled, Amélie rolled her eyes with an amused smile and looked at her wife.

“Can you tell me about Lena” Amélie asked “She seems to mean a great deal to you” Emily sighed and strengthened her hug but looked away nervously.

“I love her, I think I’m all she has” Amélie felt a pang in her heart at that statement, but it was not in jealously, it was sadness due the pain in her wife’s voice, she delicately took her chin and turned the cats gaze to her own, she leaned forward to kiss her nose and nodded for her to continue. Emily smiled a little and did just that.

“She was an orphan, moving from one hostel to another, getting her food from foodbanks most of the time” Emily’s voice broke slightly “I never found out what happened to her parents, but I found myself watching her as she grew up, I just felt connected to her, she cares more about others than herself really, I once saw her give what little food she had one of the other girls in the hostel, she must have been about fifteen at the time, cleaning dishes in a restaurant in evenings for pennies, one night she bought a couple of burgers from McDonalds which she shared without even being asked, just because she’s a good person”

Amélie had no idea what a McDonalds was but she assumed it was cheap food, Emily sounded heartbroken and Amélie felt the same upon hearing her words, but that sadness in her wife’s tone turned to anger rather quickly “How could the system have failed her so much, she should have been in foster care, not living on the fucking streets!” then there was silence for a moment and Amélie almost missed the next words as they were mumbled quietly “Overwatch wouldn’t let me adopt her”

Amélie stroked Emily’s cheek taking away a few tears that had appeared “One time she spotted me” Emily continued with a soft smile at the memory “I never let her see me as a human until about a year ago” Emily chuckled “She picked up and was saying something about how cute and fluffy I was, I don’t think I’d ever seen a smile that big” Emily looked up at her “You would like her”

“What happened?” Amélie asked “I overheard her on her scre… uh… phone”

“I tried to come out”

“As a _Were_?” Amélie asked “Do you know how risky that is?” That was clearly the wrong thing to say as her wife stood up and Amélie saw her skin start to darken, her muscles grow ever so slightly as she fought her shift. She spun to Amélie her teeth pointed like a cat her and eyes feline in appearance.

“I. Love. Her” her voice was edged with a feline roar. Piper had been startled awake and had somehow made it behind the chair she was previously occupying, peaking out curiously her ears twitching. Emily started taking deep breaths and calmed herself down “Its risky I know” she eventually said “But I don’t want to lie to her anymore” she turned to her and Amélie watched as her ears and tail disappeared inside her body. “You can be yourself around people, you blend in. We have to hide”

Before Amélie could say anything, Emily’s phone started to ring. They both glanced over as Piper timidly moved to pick it up, she paled, and turned it around, on the screen was the one name you never wanted to call, _Morrison_.

Piper answered the phone and gave an affirmative before placing it on the coffee table, “You’re on speaker”

“Mrs Guillard” the voice said. “Or would you prefer Ms Hawkins?”

“Emily”

“Very well Emily” Morrison replied, “I have an alert regarding a suspicious vampire feeding” Morrison sighed “Usually Overwatch would not be concerned with this matter as vampires can feed of their own volition provided, they do not kill, and _believe_ me we would know if they did.”

“What does this have to do with me?” Emily asked looking at Amélie, they both knew.

Morrison laughed dryly “One of our agents found an empty hibernation chamber in an abandoned subway tunnel after reports of someone on the tracks” Amélie swallowed, she could vaguely remember waking and finding herself in a dark tunnel, her next memory was pulling clothes off a mannequin before she had found the drunk “The Identification engraved on it was for your wife, but not only that, you asked for permission to reveal our nature to the victim hours before she was bitten, so you can imagine how this looks”

“It wasn’t her fault!” Emily snapped “She woke up like, way later than she should have” It was then that Amélie saw realisation dawn on her face, she had said too much.

Morrison spoke again, his voice harsh clearly disapproving of her attitude “Hello Amélie, welcome back”

“ _Bonjour_ ” Amélie said while Emily looked at her apologetically “I did not know the connection between Elise and Lena, until after the feeding”

“That does not change the facts” Morrison took a breath “Emily, you have twenty-four hours in which to inform Ms Oxton about our world and explain what occurred last night, if you do not do this Blackwatch will be forced to take matters into their own hands and send her for debrief”

“I am not letting you send her to Ana!” Emily snapped.

“Then you better get moving” Morrison terminated the call.

Emily visibly deflated when the call ended and Piper was at her side in an instant, Amélie watched as Emily partially shifted, her ears and tail returning, and nuzzled into her cousins’ neck as Piper began to play with her ears. Amélie would have liked to calm her down but at times like this, the cats tended to find each other. Amélie envied it at times, _Weres_ were close and stuck together with strong family ties. Vampires were practically abandoned upon reaching adulthood, the turned usually stayed with their sire to learn about their new nature, but after a while they were alone also.

Emily’s phone rang again and Amélie picked it up and laughed when she saw the name. She answered it and raised it to her ear as she had seen Piper and Lena do previously and spoke.

“Still alive puppy?”

“Still a bitch?” Jesse replied and Amélie laughed.

“Are your words still sharper than your claws? Perhaps you would like a rematch”

Jesse laughed “God, I’ve missed you, most vamps are boring, you actually fight back”

“How’s the arm?” Amélie asked.

“It grew back” Jesse replied, Amélie could hear the smirk as she spoke again “How’s the leg?”

“Still attached”

“Shame”

“Quite” Amélie looked over the cats as they both observed her with curiosity, Amélie made eye contact with Emily and mouthed _‘Cute’_ prompting a blush before she continued speaking “I take it you want to speak to Elise?” she looked at the phone and frowned, Emily gently took it from her before manipulating it so it was on speaker.

“Hey Jesse” she said.

“Emmie” Jesse replied, “I take it she’s the one that bit Lena?”

“She has a name” Amélie replied good naturedly.

“She is a vamp that cut off my arm” Jesse laughed.

“You bit a chunk out of my leg in response” Amélie smirked “Then had the gall to say I tasted like fish when you shifted back”

“You deserved it. Growing my arm back hurt like a bitch” Jesse replied “Plus I now have a sock in my wolf form, one white fucking leg”

“Cute little puppy” Amélie laughed.

Jesse sighed “Anyway back to the matter at hand, Lena is asleep here at the club, she came to work dead on her feet unaware of what happened last night, so what happened?”

“She saw me and Piper greeting each other, and I bet you can guess what happened”

“We talking a hug or your kitty cat shit”

“I take offence at that, Wolfboy” Emily said with a giggle.

“Kitty cat shit then” Jesse chuckled “Anyway get your ass down here, Gabe already told me what Morrison said. Lena is _not_ visiting Ana”

“Give us a half our” Emily replied.

“Leave the vamp at home unless she can behave”

“I don’t know” Emily smirked and winked at Amélie “I thought you liked ‘Dances with Wolves’”

“What?”

“Amé, can give you _Two Socks_ ” with that Jesse hung up, while Emily and Piper laughed, they looked at Amélie and she raised a brow “It’s a movie” Emily clarified and Amélie frowned was that comment supposed to help her understand “We can watch it sometime, but the ending is really sad!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the first three chapters of my new work. I wanted to try a new ship involving my favorite girls and one where I did not have to write out or ignore poor Emily.
> 
> As always comments are welcome and thanks for reading. :)


	4. Elsewhere

Angela sighed, today just like every other day her nature fought against her. Working in the medical field had always been her desired profession and she had succeeded, started as a nurse working her way up to a fully qualified Doctor graduating at the top of her class, however in recent years she had grown to love and hate her role.

She was reviewing the chart of her last patient; everything was in order. Yet she recalled her struggle attending to them, she had known what was wrong and had easily rectified it, however the problem was, they had sustained injury when crashing their bike, usually not a problem except for the open wound. The issue with that being she had not fed for nearly a month and spending your days in a hospital encountering blood when you interacted with most patients, made controlling your instincts difficult.

She rubbed her neck remembering the night of the attack, she had died eight years ago in this very hospital. Two floors down, in room one zero six.

She knew of the world within a world, most of the staff at the hospital did, so seeing a vampire was nothing outside the ordinary for her, everyone needed medical care at some stage of their life, it was just rare to see a nonhuman as very few things affected them as they were resistant to nearly all diseases, it was mainly Silver that caused them problems. Which was what her patient had been subjected to.

She revealed to him it had been a lethal amount and that he had a couple of hours at most before it killed him, she apologised wishing she could have given him better news and even asked if he wanted her to alert anyone. He had revealed he had nobody before lunging at her and had her pinned to the wall muffling her screams, she had known what was about to happen, even knowing that there was nothing she could do but she tried to fight back regardless, to push him away crying the entire time and watching as he started to bite into his own fingers drawing blood.

“I cannot allow my Bloodline to end” he had said “I am sorry”

She had tried to call for help the moment he moved his hand managing a single scream before he seized her throat in a tight grip and squeezed robbing her of her voice, he slackened his grip only when she started to gag so he could force bleeding fingers into her mouth. The blood had burned her throat like acid and even after the first few drops, she found her body reacting, eventually a security guard had stormed in and seized the vampire, but it was too late for the good Doctor.

Angela had fallen to her knees and tried in vain to spit out the blood, but being unable too, her body overwhelmed with the sensation of burning, she could remember the horror of not being able to breathe, the sounds of her sire dying were ingrained in her memory as it was at that moment, she also realised something was missing, her heartbeat. The last thing she remembered of her human life was her friend taking hold of her shoulders telling her she was sorry, rubbing her back in an effort to reassure her as everything began to fade to black.

“I’ll be here when you wake up Angie” her friend had cried “I promise” and then Angela died.

She was pulled from her reverie by her office door opening, looking over she saw her friend walking in stifling a yawn. Angela could not help the smirk that crept onto her face when she saw the ears peaking out from under her hair. After hours, the _Weres_ in the hospital staff tended to stop hiding their nature, she had once asked why.

Her friend had explained that their animal aspects were a part of them and were supposed to be free, in order to hide them they had to keep that thought in mind and remain calm, any loss of emotional control or focus could reveal them to the humans, which would be dangerous for everyone. Angela would neither confirm or deny if she had tested this by hiding in a supply closet and jumping out when her friend least expected it, or that she found the startled mew hilarious and ended up being pounced on by one truly angry cat.

“How’s my favourite vampire?” her friend asked as she sat across from Angela.

“I did not know you had a favourite”

Her friend laughed “Most of your lot are moody little buggers”

“I don’t know many of my kind” Angela replied “I tend to avoid them”

“I can understand that given what happened, I brought you something” her friend reached into her pocket and pulled out a blood bag placing it on her desk

Angela eyed the bag and tried ridiculously hard to not grab it like some primal beast digging her hands into her legs while trying to resist the urge, but failed, before she realised what was happening, she had snatched it up and dug in her fangs, her senses aflame as she savoured the taste of it.

“Thank you, Moira,” she said as she melted into her chair, her thirst quenched for the time being, she heard the now empty bag fall to the floor as it slipped out of her hand, she would pick it up later. Her mind was finally stilled, and she was under the impression that for a vampire there was no better feeling.

The cat laughed in reply “I promised I would look after you Angie” Moira reached over and took her hand “You didn’t ask for this, you are not going to be alone”

»»———— ★ ————««

The Archives was a hive of activity and Gabriel hated it, he came in later to avoid the rush, but it seemed everyone else had the same idea today. He was a wolf, a somewhat social creature, but the people around him irritated him to no end, he was a person like them, and his status did not change that, he hated being treated differently purely because of his title. He sent a glare at a clerk who met his gaze with an awestruck, yet somewhat gormless expression and the boy quickly diverted his eyes to what Gabriel assumed was a random piece of paperwork.

Ignoring everyone around him, he focused on why he was here, scanning the labels on the aisles and shelves as he walked further into the maze that made up the vast majority of the Archives, when he found the section he was looking for, he realised he had quite a bit of work ahead of him, opened a cabinet at random and began browsing the papers. He was unsure how long he had been looking as he was lost in his thoughts when a soft voice disturbed him.

“Good Evening, Elder Reyes” he looked over and gave a soft smile. The girl looked at him nervously and nodded to the cabinet. “Do you need assistance?” this surprised him she was usually very socially awkward, but she tended to know things others did not so he would not turn her away.

“I am just looking for the old clan registries, specifically for Moira’s kin” he replied.

The girl hummed for a moment before ducking into her robe as she shifted, once in her larger form, a _Leopard,_ she crawled out from under it shaking herself for a moment so that the robe was not on her back. Once she was happy, her tail swayed side to side as she looked around, after a few seconds she jumped upwards catching the edge of a shelf with her paws before climbing around above him, he watched as she manoeuvred around the shelves with a grace that could only be attributed to her kind. He was a wolf, but he has always admired the cats, and often found himself wishing he shared their skills.

He chuckled when she shifted again and ended up sat on the edge of a high shelf, quite naked, with one leg crossed over the other, her tail hanging down next to her and her ears showing proudly, humming as she looked through a box. “You okay up there?” he called softly.

A charming grin appeared as she cast her gaze down to him for a moment “Hm. This place is to my liking.” He chuckled at her response and watched as she pulled some of the folders out of the box, she opened one checking a few pages before returning it, repeating this action for all of the folders she had found, with a frown she replaced the lid. The cat then scanned the tops of the shelves around her, focusing on several of the other boxes before shifting again and vaulting across to the opposite side landing on another shelf, she situated herself in pretty much the same position, and began looking through her new box humming the same tune.

Gabriel closed the cabinet he had opened and leaned against it watching the cat work, eventually she held a folder in front of her mouth and shifted, a moment later she gracefully landed a few feet away. He pushed off the cabinet as the _Leopard_ padded over, when she was in front of him, she tilted her head to the side her eyes glinting with pride as she offered him the folder, he gently took them from the girls’ mouth and gave her head an affectionate pat, seeing a _Leopard_ purr in delight made him chuckle.

He opened the folder as the girl walked past him and shuffled under her robe, she shifted into her human form again and began adjusting her clothing from the inside with practiced ease. He scanned the pages as she finished before asking her opinion.

“What do you know of Emily Hawkins?” he asked.

“Very little” she replied “I know of her; she has always been kind to me”

“If anybody is ever unkind to you Satya, you let me know” Gabriel smiled at her “Thank you for helping me find this file” she bowed her head.

“It is my duty as a Keeper” Satya replied “Farewell Elder Reyes” with that she turned and was lost in the maze, how she found her way around this place, he had no idea. Gabriel remembered when he found Satya as little more than a cub, he had adopted her, raised her, and still cared for her greatly, he was proud of how far she had come. One day he would get her to call him dad.

»»———— ★ ————««

“No comment”

Fareeha was at the end of her tether. She had been questioning this guy for the better part of an hour and got nothing from him except those two words, those two very irritating words grated on her nerves, she had lost her focus before now and was thankful for her hat which hid her ears, although her tail was itching as it was stuck in her trousers.

The worst part of the entire situation, he was not even a suspect, he was witness to a robbery. She was unsure whether this man was an idiot who had simply watched too many detective or police shows on TV, or if he was actually involved in the crime and trying very badly to hide the fact.

She closed her notepad, picked up her recorder and excused herself before leaving the room, when the door was closed, she sighed and focused her mind before walking into the precinct’s bullpen. She checked in with one of the interns who appeared to be free and handed them her recorder to do a transcript of the interview, they had accepted gratefully seemingly happy they now had something to do, so she had smiled and thanked them, before heading further in to where her partner was sat at his desk.

“No comment” she said as she fell into the chair across from him “That’s all he would say”

“He watches too much TV”

“That’s what I was thinking” Fareeha complained loudly attracting the attention of some of the other officers around them, she leaned forward and sighed before speaking softly “Sometimes I hate covering human cases”

“I know what you mean” her partner replied stroking his goatee before grabbing his own equipment “I shall give it a try, wish me luck”

“Bad Luck” Fareeha said with a smirk and her partner raised a hand to his heart in mock “You never specified what kind Detective Shimada” they both chuckled.

“You are a sharp one, Detective Amari” Hanzo replied before walking towards the interrogation rooms, Fareeha sat watching him before he turned back realising, he forgot something, she rolled her eyes as he pointed helplessly at the doors around him, she held up four fingers receiving a nod in thanks.

After a few moments contemplation she moved over to her own desk dropping her notepad into her drawer, she picked up her cup and contemplated making a coffee but decided against it so she could work on her report, this proved to be a mistake as the moment she logged into her computer her phone rang. She glared at the offending device that sat face down on her desk, before picking it up and pressing it to her ear.

“Detective Amari speaking”

“Reeha”

“Mom?” Fareeha moved the phone and looked at the screen in disbelief, due to the timing she had assumed it would be her boss. She quickly returned it to her ear.

“… you?” she missed most of what was asked but given the questioning inflection on the word she did actually catch she was able to respond.

“I am fine” Fareeha replied her voice taking on a tone of anger “You hardly ever call me though!”

“Sorry Reeha” Ana replied “You know it’s hard at Blackwatch”

“The Inquisitor” Fareeha smirked as she spoke “I don’t think it suits you”

“On that we agree”

“You don’t need to forget about me though mother”

“I am trying” her mother sounds genuinely disheartened. “I was hoping we could meet up soon”

“Meeting up would be nice” Fareeha admitted.

“We could have coffee at that café you like” Ana suggested “You could even bring your little girlfriend”

“Mom, stop” she chuckled “I’ll introduce you later”

“You better” Ana sighed and Fareeha could hear voices in the background “Great, the next one is already here, Sorry Reeha, but I need you help with something”

“If you need me and not your minions it must be something serious”

“Amélie has returned” Ana sounded a little happier, and Fareeha felt her heart skip a beat at that news, but unfortunately her mother continued with a tone of sadness “What do you remember about her past?”

Fareeha was caught off by that question and glanced around her desk, most of the others were quite far away from her but she responded quietly all the same “She is a Pureblood formerly of the Lacroix clan”

“Gérard has expressed an interest in acquiring her again” there was a pause “He knew she was awake before I did” Fareeha felt her blood boil, they may have been different species but Amélie was her sister, Ana had raised them together since the vampire’s parents had disappeared without a trace.


	5. Laws

Early morning London was interesting to watch as they travelled. Amélie found herself quietly observing the streets and its inhabitants making a note of any changes from her time that were worth investigating. Even though the city was not how she remembered it, it was eerily familiar, like she knew it somehow, it gave her an uneasy feeling, which she tried her best to ignore.

She was located in the back of Pipers car, a car which Amélie found interesting she had seen several since she awoke but this was the first, she could inspect and study, Emily had told her it was a Jaguar, which had amused Amélie to no end, a cat driving a car named after a cat. It was unlike any vehicle she could remember seeing, taller too, her favourite feature were the seats, Piper had enthused about them being heated and Amélie had not believed her not understanding how that would be possible, yet when she sat down it had been an odd yet pleasant sensation and very much to her liking.

The car was quiet, but not uncomfortably so, they all knew where they were heading and why, it was more an acceptance of the circumstances than anything else, Amélie found herself wondering how and why she had woken up now, in this time, the more she thought about it, the more surprised she became that she had actually survived the hibernation given how prolonged it was. She was shaken from her thoughts by movement in front of her, being behind Piper offered her a perfect view of the front passenger seat and Emily, who was nervously playing with her tail as she looked out of the window, the girl’s reflection hinted that she was looking at nothing in particular.

The sight of Emily in a somewhat distressed made Amélie share similar feelings, but she was unsure how to help her, she had been asleep for what she was now realising was sizeable amount of her wife’s life, she looked at her ring and felt her heart drop as she was overwhelmed with guilt, even if it had not been by her design, how could she not feel guilty.

The music that was playing abruptly ended and was replaced by something else “Oh, I like this song!” Piper cheered a little too quickly from the driver’s seat, Amélie realised something was happening but Emily appeared to remain oblivious. Seemingly sensing this the older cat reached into the middle of the dashboard where she manipulated something on the screen and the volume of the radio increased, almost immediately Piper began singing along to the new music and nudging Emily to do the same, her cousin chuckled and eventually joined in.

As she listened to this song and the oddly comforting sounds of a pair of singing cats, Amélie struggled to decide what she thought of modern music, the only word that came to mind was strange. Although she had to admit the song had a nice vocalist, not including the additional vocals provided by the vehicle’s occupants, along with an interesting tune. She focused on the lyrics and found herself nodding along, she saw Emily turn and smile at her, with a sly wink when she sang a specific part which Amélie had now realised was the chorus, the wording of which both amused her and caused her to break eye contact looking away with a very faint blush, Amélie liked kissing girls but had no idea what a Cherry Chapstick actually was.

Once they had finished their impromptu sing along, Amélie came to remember something that had been on her mind following the phone call from Morrison, so she voiced her concerns, “Elis… sorry, Emily, why are you so concerned about Lena being sent to my mother?”

Her wife’s ears perked up at the question and she turned around in her seat “Oh, sorry” she looked at Amélie and began playing with her tail again “She’s the new Inquisitor, it’s nothing against her honey”

“Interesting” was all Amélie said although she did laugh slightly, she could easily imagine Ana Amari as the Inquisitor, even so the thought of it was just as equally outlandish, the woman even at her age tended to be immature at times.

Amélie had many memories of growing up with the Amari’s, Ana letting her ride on her back when she was small running through the trees while the vampire hugged into Ana’s neck holding on for dear life laughing the entire time, Ana and Fareeha chasing each other around their house in their _Were-forms_ when the latter refused to let her mother give her a [tongue bath](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZIelH9-s4k) while the vampire watched from the couch with an amused smile, or the many times she and Fareeha sat in front of the fire rubbing the older _Lionesses_ middle as if she were an overgrown housecat.

“I don’t think she would allow Lena to be interrogated” Piper added and Amélie hummed in agreement.

“She will be fine” Amélie insisted when Emily frowned showing she was unconvinced “Even if we fail Morrison’s request, my mother will not let it happen”

“I doubt mom would either” Piper mumbled and then spoke a little louder “Em, text mom, let her know what’s going on” Emily looked at her cousin after that comment in what could only be described as awe, mumbling to self, asking why she had not thought of that.

Amélie watched as she started writing a message on her phone, presumably to her aunt.

»»———— ★ ————««

Her chamber was dark, much darker than she would like, one of the first things she had done when she was practically forced into this role was order more candles due to the fact this room had no electrical lighting, why that was a thing in this day and age she had no idea but as always, she worked with what she had.

She had also changed the way things worked, she would be alone in this room with the accused, instead of having them flanked by two armed Blackwatch Knights, Ana mentally scoffed to herself they really needed to change that name, the Knights now waited outside for her signal or any signs of an altercation.

The current accused was a Human, who had committed a serious crime against their community after having the truth about the world revealed to him, her mind kept falling back to the situation with Emily and Amélie, and how something similar could happen to that poor girl Lena. She did not deserve it, in any sense, she was just a girl her daughter-in-law loved, Ana hid a smile behind her hand at that thought, now that Amélie was back that relationship was about to get complicated, but her girl could handle it.

After letting the accused stew in silence for some time, Ana poured herself some tea, the human watched her as the liquid flowed from the teapot that had been brewing at her side. She placed it down in its proper place, and delicately picked up a single sugar cube between two well-manicured fingers dropping it into her teacup. “So” she said simply as she picked up her spoon.

The man remained silent as the spoon entered the boiling liquid and she began to stir. “You have nothing to say for yourself?” he remained silent eyeing her suspiciously, she tapped the spoon gently against the side of her teacup three times and placed it next to the saucer, ensuring it was straight before looking him in the eyes.

“Your girlfriend placed her trust in you” she said simply, again the man said nothing “She admitted to you she was a vampire” Ana sighed as he still reused to respond and slowly lifted up her eyepatch, as expected his gaze was drawn to what was below and he stiffened. “Answer my question”

“Yes” his voice was monotone as he fell under the influence “She told me”

Ana had sacrificed an eye, so that she could perform her duties, it had been replaced by the _Inquisitors Iris_ , or as Ana described it, the infernal artifact. The _Iris_ compelled anybody who met its gaze, they answered any question you asked of them, and they answered truthfully with no resistance. No one person could possess the artefact for more than three years, and Ana had only recently started her tenure as Inquisitor, the only upside had been that her predecessor had grown their eye back, an upside to being a _Were_ she had to admit, the previous _Vampire_ inquisitor, the one who trained her, now possessed a glass eye, due to the fact he had been a _Turned_ , he had complained about it often.

“What was your first thought?” Ana asked, picking up her teacup and taking a small sip of tea.

“She was a Monster” Ana scowled at the response as she placed the teacup back on its saucer, casually adjusting the handle so it sat at a right angle.

“Had she ever done anything to hurt you or anyone else to your knowledge?” Ana thought a moment “Or anything for that matter, in order to prompt such violence”

“No” she could see that he was trying to say something else, anything else, but the artifact would not allow it.

“Then why attack her?”

“She was a vampire”

“But you yourself just said you had not seen her hurt anybody”

“That does not mean she had not” she could see the struggle in his eyes again as he tried to lie.

“The same could be said of you” Ana replied with a bite in her voice, “In fact we both know that in your case it is true” Ana ran her finger around the teacups edge as she spoke again “Do you genuinely believe she deserved to die?”

“No” he replied, and Ana saw shock register in his gaze as if realising that himself for the first time.

Ana picked up some paperwork that had been sent with him “Judging by the autopsy, she lost her life to the sun” Ana looked over the pictures from the scene and felt bile rise in her throat, before she pushed a few across the table “You trapped her on her apartments balcony and let her burn, did you believe she would turn to ash, like in the stories and that there would be no evidence.”

“Yes”

“Instead, her neighbours heard her cries and reported it” Ana clarified pushing a transcript of the phone call to emergency services towards him “The police on the scene found her the poor girls burnt body, still scorching and partially aflame, do you feel any guilt?”

“Yes” again the man looked surprised by his response.

“We have established that you killed her simply because she was a vampire, but why kill her in such a brutal manner?”

“I did not know another way to kill her”

“You have been appropriated at the request of her family” Ana advised “They wish you to pay for your crime in a similar manner and given your responses I find myself tending to agree with them. You killed her simply for being who she was, do you deny it?”

“No”

“You did not give her a chance to explain about her true nature and our world, do you deny it?”

“No”

“Then it is my duty as Inquisitor to inform you that you have been found guilty of murder, do you understand this charge?”

“Yes” his eyes now reflected fear and given what the poor vampire had suffered Ana could not find it in her heart to be sympathetic. Especially when her mind kept asking, what if this were Amélie? Ana had done her duty and asked the questions; the artifact had done its own and ensured that the answers were truthful. Now she had to decide her ruling, which would go to the Elders for final judgement.

Deciding not to turn him over to the Humans was easy, this was a crime against their community so they would enforce the punishment, however the poor vampire’s family wanted him to suffer the same fate, so they desired a death sentence, Ana could find herself agreeing based on her own relationship with Amélie, but he had confirmed he did feel guilty.

She placed her hand on the small bell next to her, raised it from the table and gave it a single ring before lowering her eyepatch. The Knights opened the door a moment later and seized the human. “Take him to the cells and ensure he receives a meal” Ana stated simply “Inform the Elders, I advise a jail sentence to reflect on his crimes”

“Yes Inquisitor” one of the Knights replied shortly before they removed the man from her office.

She picked up her teacup and drank the now lukewarm liquid as she removed her phone from her pocket, she had a missed call and a couple of messages all from the same person. She read the messages and returned the call saying simply “I am on my way” she hung up with a sigh, today was not going her way.

»»———— ★ ————««

Piccadilly Circus Station, built in nineteen hundred and six, A train station completely underground, at least that is what it what it was intended to be known as. For those with knowledge of the true world, they would know it also houses an entrance to the Undercity.

The Undercity ran below most of London, a series of large caverns lit by a mixture of electrical and gas lighting, the home of the Archives where the worlds true history was stored where _Vampire_ and _Were-creature_ involvement was not hidden. The centre of the district stood the Lunar Hall, which housed the chambers of each Elder and the Inquisitor.

Only one Elder usually sat in residence, it was rare for all three to be within the Hall unless there was a matter that required them all to be in attendance. There were always three Elders, one to represent _Vampire_ interests, one for _Were-creatures_ and one elected to be _Neutral_. The only chamber open currently belonged to Elder Johnathon _‘Jack’_ Morrison.

Jack brought his fist into the boxing bag as hard as he could and was rewarded with the satisfying snap of leather and rattle of the chain pinning it to the roof, as it swung back, he met it head on with a series of jabs, followed by a swift kick. As a vampire he did not need to exercise, but found himself doing it all the same, especially when he was trapped in his chamber, as he tended to be the least visited Elder. Reyes had always advised him that it was due to his _‘sparkling personality’_ and tendency to be overly strict in his rulings.

His attention was diverted from the ruthless pummelling of the leather bag, by his door opening and the sarcastic clapping that followed. He turned to the newcomer as they spoke holding up a hand behind him to prevent the swinging bag striking him now his gaze was elsewhere “You can beat inanimate objects” the newcomer clapped a final time “Impressive” he raised his other hand and stopped the bag moving entirely with a sigh.

“O’Deorain” Jack said simply walking to the centre of the room towards his desk.

“Why do you have a punching bag in your chamber?”

“What do you want?” he asked as he took a seat ignoring her question.

Moira did not answer and moved to take a seat across from him. He glared at her as she placed her feet on the edge of his desk crossing one over the other at the ankle. She was acting like she owned the place, which in a way she did as this was once her chamber, she surprised him when she pulled a small ball from her pocket and started playing with it in quiet contemplation, her eyes following it as her ears twitched giving her an air of happiness. Jack raised a brown before asking “What are you doing?”

“Waiting” Moira replied, her attention completely focused on the ball.

“For?”

Moira glanced at him and shrugged before turning her attention back to her ball, he irritably folded his arms watching the ball pass between the Doctors hands as she continued to ignore him, one thing he had to admit was that Moira was one of the most intelligent people he had ever met but she was stubborn and Jack knew he was lucky to have her as an advisor given it was the neutral seat, her seat, that he had been elected too when he became an Elder.

The humorous thing about Moira was how often lapsed into her feline nature, the fact she was currently sat across from him playing with a small ball of purple yarn amused him to no end, she could be too adorable for her own good, he honestly had no idea why she carried the ball around with her, it was not the first time he had seen it, but as he looked at her he came to understand that this was likely her boxing bag, her distraction when she was stressed.

After several minutes of silence, if you did not include the soft yet happy cat noises Moira made as she played with her ball, the chamber door opened a second time, with Ana Amari slipping inside a moment later taking the remaining seat in front of his desk. Moira appeared to be lost in thought and had not noticed her entrance and Ana chuckled intercepting the ball with ease, Moira gave a displeased mumble.

“Does the tiger want her ball back?” Ana teased, Jack could not help the smile that crept onto his face as Moira folded her arms seemingly ignoring the comment and clearly unhappy, her eyes had not left the ball. After a few moments watching her friend as she was thinking on how to get her precious ball back, Ana tossed it towards her, with Moira easily catching and returning it to her pocket.

Ana instantly turned her attention to the Elder “Jack” the tone of her voice alone caused the vampire to groan “You know why we are here”

“Emily” Moira supplied, without waiting for him to respond.

Jack leaned back in his seat giving them both an unimpressed stare “Explain.”

“She has the Elders permission, which includes your own, to induct Lena into our world” Ana continued “Yet you have imposed a twenty-four-hour limit on her”

“I am within my rights to do so”

“If her human is a potential threat” Moira snapped angrily.

“She is a bartender” Ana supplied “Should I pay Jesse a visit also? He is a bartender, so naturally the same logic should apply”

“It is my duty as an Elder to protect our society and the secrecy laws”

“Fear the wrath of the bartender and her powers of mixology!” Moira mocked.

“Just rescind the order Jack” Ana said leaning forward. “You know it was wrong”

Jack sighed and looked the Inquisitor, her gaze pleading him to make the right choice as one of his oldest friends he could easily pick up on her emotions and she in no way approved of his actions. He turned his attention to Moira, who was staring daggers at him, she was fiercely loyal to her family and knew that if she had to choose between them and him, she would pick her family every time, and he was not sure if he would win that fight.

“Moira” he started softly “Can you give me your opinion as my advisor, not a parent”

“Enforcing an Inquisition order is not unheard of, but one that counters a ruling agreed upon by all three Elders is quite honestly idiotic” she finally dropped her feet from his desk and leaned forward “I assume Reyes and Wilhelm do not know about this yet, so if you go through with it, you could be the one sat across from Ana, and I would get my seat back”

“Consider it rescinded” Jack replied admitting defeat. He turned his attention to his computer and began making the necessary changes, Moira and Ana allowed him to work in silence when he was finished her flipped the screen and showed them the dispatch notice for a Blackwatch team was cancelled along with the Inquisition order.

Moira stood and left without a word; Jack had a feeling she would be holding this grudge for a while, this was confirmed when Ana let out a long whistle “I do not envy you right now” she chuckled, all he could do was glare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm slowly setting up the world, and the different aspects of the secret community/society.
> 
> I am still unsure what possessed me to start writing this one, but I am enjoying and riding the train of inspiration while I can.


	6. The Truth

_The Reaper_.

An unusual name for a bar, but the proprietor had a somewhat dark sense of humour. It opened for a short lunch service to cater for nearby businesses, but It mainly operated over ten hours at the beginning of the evening, with happy hour starting at the stroke of midnight. In the centre of the main room was the bar itself, usually manned by at least one of two bartenders, positioned in front of the centrepiece, a large black stained-glass statue of the Grim Reaper, holding a skull with glowing red eyes, which acted as the lighting for the bar. They even had a signature cocktail aptly named Death Blossom.

Jesse was sat on the bar itself nursing a whiskey, no rock, when a knock came at the door, he frowned and waited a moment, two further knocks came in quick succession confirming who was requesting entry. He gulped the remainder of his drink and placed the glass next to him before dropping to his feet. He could still feel the burn of the liquor in his throat as he opened the door.

He let the three women past him and once they were inside, he locked the door behind them, when he turned back to address the group, he found himself almost tackled to the ground as the vampire seized him in a very tight hug. Amélie was one of his oldest friends and they often had a sibling like rivalry that he had missed in her absence; he like almost all of their friends had assumed she had died during the blitz like so many other hibernating vampires. He was happy they were wrong not that he would openly admit it to her.

“Puppy” she whispered good-naturedly into his neck.

“Bitch” he replied chuckling as she hit his back in protest.

“It’s good to see you” she mumbled.

They separated and Jesse smirked adjusting his hat before meeting her eyes “So, can we go back to hating each other again?” Amélie smirked and nodded as she playfully pretended to remove fur from her jacket. He gave her the finger which caused the three women to laugh.

“You two are something else” Emily chastised with humour in her voice “The first thing you did was practically rip each other to pieces, and now your best buddies”

“A vampire with a spine is a rare thing” Jesse commented walking to the bar and hopping over with practiced ease “Besides, it was a good fight, got me accepted into my pack” he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and topped up his glass.

“It was, although you did rudely interrupt my reading of a particularly good book” Amélie seemed genuinely displeased by this “Which you still have not replaced by the way”

“Seriously Amé, let it go” Jesse laughed “How am I supposed to find a copy of that book after all this time”

“You burnt it; you replace it” she moved to lean against the bar “Do you have any wine?”

“You whine a lot, you don’t need me to start” Jesse said smugly, even so he crouched down and started perusing bottles.

Emily watched as realisation seemed to dawn on her cousins’ face, while the soft clinking of bottles filled the bar “Wait a second” Piper almost whispered before pointing at Amélie “Was it you two who caused that train crash back in Alabama, the one my mom always complained about?”

“Jack caused the crash” Jesse admitted as he popped back up to show Amélie a bottle, when she gave a nod of approval, he turned to grab a glass from the shelf below the centrepiece. “He was looking for a criminal, let’s call it a bounty and had dragged me and Gabby along for the ride” he set the glass down in front of the vampire and worked on popping the cork “Besides your mam only complains as Gabby could have died”

“I doubt anything could kill that stubborn wolf” Emily said with a chuckle.

“So, what happened?” Piper asked as she climbed onto a barstool.

“I was sat reading my book” Amélie sent a mock glare at Jesse who rolled his eyes as he poured her a glass of wine “When this one” she nods to him “Comes into my carriage telling everyone to calmly get off the train, I thought he was there for a robbery, so I got involved”

“Hey” he complained “You socked me straight in the jaw”

“Yes” Amélie confirmed as she took a drink from her glass “As I said, I got involved”

“Well, it was what we needed anyways” Jesse admitted “The moment we started fighting everyone evacuated, the worst thing was, someone pushed past me and made it easy for Amé to steel my knife”

“We somehow ended up on the roof, I cannot remember how” Amélie hummed trying to recall why when Jesse continued the story.

“I climbed up there as you had my knife and I wasn’t about to fight a vamp in close quarters” Jesse sipped from his glass “That’s a death sentence if you didn’t know” he nodded at Amélie “Vamps are fast, but this one, fuckin’ lightning”

“Raised by cats” Amélie smirked “Anyway, we fought for a while and he shifted and lunged at me, biting into my leg”

“She managed to cut my leg off, forcing me to shift back” Jesse supplied with a groan “It hurt like hell but before we could even react to our injuries, Jack somehow crashed the train” he took another drink and placed his glass back down “Gabriel found us in the wreckage clutching our wounds laughing at the madness of it all, you should have seen the look on his face considering he had seen us brawling”

“It didn’t last long though” Amélie rolled her eyes and looked at Jesse “Remember when Jack wandered over rubbing the back of his neck and told him it was the wrong train”

Jesse laughed “Yeah the start of the twelve-year grudge match! Sometime like six seconds before Gabe broke his nose”

Emily watched as her companions continued to laugh between themselves while Amélie and Jesse spoke of what was essentially a cold war between Jack and Gabriel. She had heard the stories many times, so she decided it was time to find Lena, Jesse saw her looking around and pointed at the staff area, she gave a nod of thanks as Piper burst out laughing at something Amélie said.

She made her way over to the door and peaked inside, she couldn’t help but smile at the sight that greeted her as she quietly moved though into the room, Lena was curled up on one of sofas one hand under her head and the other dangling over the side, she could make out the soft noises of her breathing, they had been dating for almost a year and Lena had slept over at Emily’s flat many times, the more she thought about it Emily had no idea how she had not outed herself as a Were already.

Emily sat down next to her human rubbing her back softly she rolled her eyes when she saw the t-shirt Lena was wearing, it held the caption: _‘Nobody knows I’m a Lesbian’._ “What am I going to do with you” she whispered “You are too adorable, Sweetie”

As Emily tucked some hair behind Lena’s ear, she noticed that she was still wearing her wedding ring, she bit the inside of her cheek contemplating what to do for a few moments before electing to remove it and placing it into her pocket. Closing her eyes, she took a centring breath to calm her nerves pushing herself into a partial shift, feeling the uncomfortable sensation of her ears and tail receding inside her body. “Keep calm Emily” she muttered to herself “Don’t mess this up”

“Lena” she spoke clearly keeping her voice soft, the human did not react, so she reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. “Lena, it’s time to wake up, Sweetie”

The human curled into herself a little more, Emily rolled her eyes, why is it she was always drawn to the stubborn ones, she tried again, and this time Lena grumbled before she groggily opened her eyes with a small yawn. Emily watched with some amusement as she tried to roll over and nearly fell off the sofa, Lena sat up at that point rubbing her eyes, she knew from experience that Lena was a bundle of boundless energy and it was usually quite hard to get her to sit down, yet somehow not in a morning or after waking up, she would try anything to stay in bed and go back to sleep, Emily often had to lure her out with what the human affectionately named her _‘morning cuppa’,_ this was a cup of tea with milk and a copious amount of sugar, if that failed she made pancakes with too much syrup to be healthy.

“Hey Em” she said softly upon noticing her and yawned again, she puffed out her cheeks remembering where she was seemingly disappointed when she realised, she was at work, Emily was trying to supress her smirk as the human sat there blinking waiting for her brain to wake up. Lena suddenly looked at her and Emily smiled softly as Lena gave her a blank stare. She then seemed to remember what had happened and pushed away from her shuffling into the corner of sofa “Why are you here?” she asked, Emily was hurt by the sadness in her voice.

“It’s complicated” Emily admitted, trying to keep her calm, she could feel herself getting anxious, and if she were not careful, she would lose control. “I am honestly not sure how to explain it, I haven’t had to do it before” Lena was watching her with slightly teary eyes and worrying her lip.

“Is this where you say you’re leaving me?” Lena asked sadly fiddling nervously with the zipper on her jacket, Emily knew it was purely for something to do, it was not unlike when she played with her tail.

“No Lena” Emily all but whispered, but she knew Lena had heard her as there was a soft _‘Ok’_ in reply, Emily was finding it harder to not slip up and let her ears and tail out. “It’s nothing like that, I’m being honest when I say I’m not cheating on you” she continued trying to keep herself calm “Her name is Piper, she’s my cousin, more like my sister really”

“Then why were you…” Lena trailed off rubbing the back of her neck, she sighed and took a breath “You know…. Doing that?”

“It’s a greeting, it’s quite common for our kind” Emily said simply and reached out to gently take the humans hand, Emily was happy when Lena allowed her to hold it “It is really hard to explain so, I might just have to show you”

“What are you talking about?” Lena looked at their now entwined hands, “What do you mean by our kind?”

She gently squeezed Lena’s hand “Look at me Sweetie” she tried the endearment to lighten the mood smiling when Lena looked at her with a slight blush covering her cheeks. “I need you to try and stay calm okay, this is going to get weird” Lena raised a brow in confusion “Gimmie a second” she let out a breath, hoping that she was making the right choice.

Emily felt the pleasant sensation of her ears and tail coming free and tried not to smile when Lena’s big brown eyes grew wider when she noticed her feline features, or when her gaze shifted quickly between her ears and tail. Emily smiled and could not stop herself from playfully saying “Meow” out loud.

Lena smiled and Emily watched with some amusement as her humans’ mouth opened and closed several times failing to put her thoughts into words as her gaze started following Emily’s swaying tail.

“I am a Werecat, Sweetie”

“Does this mean you’re going to eat me?” Lena asked with a smirk.

“No Sweetie!” She laughed in reply and winked “Well not in that way” which caused Lena to blush, Emily was unsure whether Lena’s usual habit of deflecting with humour was a good sign or a bad sign.

“So, when you couldn’t see me, was this why?” Lena asked.

“Yeah” Emily confirmed “I tend to spend time hunting with my family during the full moon”

“Full moon?”

“I kind of turn into a tiger” Emily watched Lena’s curiosity turn into confusion.

“Like a tiger, tiger?”

“Do you know any other kind of tiger?” Emily asked smirking.

“I guess not” Lena rubbed the back of her neck and they lapsed into silence, the only sounds being the buzzing of the water cooler and the soft voices coming from the bar.

Emily looked over at the door when she realised, she had been left to do this on her own, she supposed it was for the best, revealing it with Piper in the room could have been awkward and she knew that Jesse would likely be no help whatsoever. It was also going to be complicated introducing her to Amélie, even though the vampire had used her powers to remove their encounter from Lena’s memory, there was a chance she would remember her, and what had happened.

The silence was oddly comforting, it was better than the alternative, Emily was happy that Lena was seemingly taking this as well as she was, she had been worried the human would run away screaming, she smiled to herself thinking about showing Lena her other forms but nearly jumped out of her skin when Lena sneakily pulled her ear. “Oi, please don’t do that”

Lena recoiled like a scolded puppy “Sorry Em!” she started playing with her hands nervously “I thought you were having me on, and they were fake or something” Emily could never bring herself to be mad at this wonderful girl.

“Here” Emily tilted her head forward “You can touch but be gentle” She felt Lena tentatively touch her ear a lot softer this time, her touch was so gentle, and Emily found herself closing her eyes as the touch turned into a soft massage, she smiled when she heard Lena giggle.

“You’re purring!” Lena continued reached over with her other hand and began massaging both her ears “Do you like that Emmie Kitty?” Emily giggled.

“It feels really nice”

“I can tell, you keep purring, and your tail seems happy too” Lena sighed “This is really weird”

“Good, weird or bad, weird?”

“Definitely good, weird” Lena replied as she moved her hands away from Emily’s head.

“You’re taking this pretty well”

“Oh, believe me, I’m freaking out on the inside”

“Why Sweetie?” Emily tilted her head to the side with a soft smile.

“Stop being so bloody cute!” Lena giggled “I’m supposed to be freaking out”

“I’ll try” Emily shook her head still smiling at Lena’s reactions “Do you want to meet my cousin? She’s in the bar” Lena just nodded and seemed to start taking deep breathes to calm her nerves.

Emily wordlessly stood and took the girls hand pulling her to her feet, as she was moving them towards the door, she felt Lena gently grip her tail and bit the inside of her cheek to stay quiet. She pushed the door open and led Lena into the bar.

Piper smiled at her as she appeared and happily pulled her hood down to free her ears and adjusted her waistband to free her tail, hearing Lena mumble about there being more cute cats. Jesse chuckled from where he was still behind the bar, Amélie was leaning where Emily had left her next to a near empty bottle of wine and an almost full glass.

“Amé” Emily laughed “You almost drank the full bottle?” the vampire laughed with a shrug.

“Lena!” Piper cheered when the human peeked out from behind Emily “Its nice to meet you! I’m Piper” her cousin charged at Lena and hugged her tight.

“Sorry Sweetie” Emily smirked “She’s very affectionate” but her smiled faltered when she realised Lena’s gaze was locked on the bar, she followed it and saw it was not the bar, but on Amélie. Piper let her go and frowned, not understanding what was going on since the hug was not returned, she seemed to fear she had overstepped before following the humans gaze with a frown, and then a soft _‘Oh’_ when she realised, she was focused on Amélie.

Lena started to panic, her eyes watering as she began to walk backwards where she fell over a chair landing awkwardly, she pulled her knees into her chest and started mumbling “Please don’t hurt me” repeatedly. Emily moved to crouch at her side and began trying to calm her down with soft reassurances.

“It’s okay Lena, she won’t hurt you”

“I thought it was a dream” Lena’s words were soft and riddled with sobs “It hurt so much!” she started rocking back and forth “I want to forget, make me forget” she started clawing and Emily’s jacket “Please” Emily recognised she was beginning to have a anxiety attack, she had helped her through these before, so she took a deep breath and in a clear voice she spoke.

“Lena, name five things you can see” she received a look of confusion “Come on Lena stay with me, five things you can see”

“Carpet… chair… you… c-cat ears…” Lena glanced around and looked upwards “Lightbulb”

“Good, now four things you can feel” Jesse said as he approached holding a glass of water.

“Jacket… breeze… Emily’s hair” she reached out and touched her hair as softly as she could as if it were fire “My chain” Emily watched as Lena moved her hands from her hair to start playing with her old dogtags.

“Three things you can hear” Emily continued.

“Cars… your breathing” Lena paused, struggling to find a third, she closed her eyes and took a breath “A fridge” she added when she opened them

“Two things you can smell”

“Perfume… whiskey” she said the last one looking at Jesse and the man smiled softly offering her the water.

“One thing you can taste” he said as she took it.

She took a sip and smiled “Strawberry”

“Yup, your favourite” he ruffled her hair as she continued drinking the flavoured water.

Once she had finished her water and with some gentle coaxing from both Jesse and Emily, they managed to get Lena to sit at the bar with Amélie, three empty stools sat between them, but Emily would accept the distance if it meant they would talk.

“So” Emily started “Amélie bit you” Lena winced at those words “She needed to feed, and it seems it was you she found”

“It was” Amélie admitted and looked at Lena who would look anywhere but towards her “I found you crying, which meant you would be easy to manipulate” She smiled “But since you remember me anyway, you are stronger than I thought”

“That supposed to make me feel better” Lena replied rubbing her neck where the wound would have been had Amélie not healed it. “I can remember the pain, I thought I was going to die, and I still feel like shit!”

“I am sorry” Amélie bowed her head “It is in my nature to feed from humans, if I had known who you were to Elise, I would not have fed from you”

“Elise?”

“That’s my birthname Sweetie” Emily clarified “We live a long time, so I became Emily about twenty years ago, I’ve had a few names since I last saw Amélie” she sighed “She was in hibernation for nearly a hundred years, she’s missed a lot”

“Wow” Lena looked at Amélie for the first time “For a hundred-year-old your smoking!”

“ _Merci”_ Amélie replied with a soft chuckle.

“Your still super mean for biting me though!” Lena insisted playing with her hands, Emily knew she was embarrassed by her sudden outburst and could not help but smile, she saw Lena look at her and frown “I told you to stop being so cute!”

“I can’t help it!” Emily laughed.

»»———— ★ ————««

The Undercity over the years had fallen into disrepair in some places, Gabriel found himself in one of these areas now, looking at a cracked fountain in what used to one of the city parks, hardly anybody knew of this place anymore, the curse of a long life and being in the last few survivors of a generation. It made a clandestine meeting easier.

Gabriel felt his hand shaking, he could not recall the last time he had been nervous as much as he was now. This feeling intensified when he heard footsteps approaching, fast. He dived aside and rolled through the shrubbery as the _Tiger_ landed where he had just been. She turned to him as he stood with a roar, her eyes mismatched even in her _Wereform._

“Moira, I need you to calm down!” he raised his hands in an effort to show he was no threat. The Tiger watched him with what Gabriel would have attributed to a scowl were she in her human form, before she sat down and watched him like he were prey. “Okay. Good girl” she roared again “Sorry!” she tilted her head to the side and there was something in her eyes, amusement, “Oh screw you!” he said upon realising this and the Tiger mewed softly as if she were laughing.

Moira laid flat on the ground paws out in front of her, one over the other with her head resting between them. “You are a piece of work you know that?” she shrugged, and he sighed “I called you here about Emily, I pulled her some of her older files from the Archives.” The tiger scowled again “Her marriage certificate” he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket “Well a copy” he held it out.

Moira shifted and took it from him, reading it again and frowned “What’s wrong with it?” she asked.

“Nothing”

“Then why?” she asked as she handed it back.

“Gérard requested a copy” Gabriel replied “I was hoping you could help me figure out why, also, please put some clothes on” she rolled her eyes and shifted into her smaller form before climbing onto his shoulder.

“You are so irritating” Moira dignified him with a was a single mew, as she dug her claws into his coat so she would not fall, Comfy?” he did not get a response, so with a sigh he made his way back with his friend perched on his shoulder


	7. Arrival

Lena was asleep again, this time curled up in one of the booths at the back of the room. Amélie found herself at the bar with a fresh bottle of wine picking at the label as she spoke with the others. Piper was somewhat distant her eyes on the human, she had expressed concern over how tired she was and had elected to watch over her, when Amélie asked why she had advised she was a nurse and Amélie was amused at how the cat seemed to take pride in that fact and relayed a couple of stories about how she teased her mother during their shared shifts.

“Amé” Jesse said grabbing her hand as she went to take a further drink “Slow down” she huffed and put the glass back down folding her arms. “It will be okay”

“She is in this state because of me” Amélie admitted.

“It is in your nature” Piper supplied “You said it yourself”

“Yes, but look at her” Amélie said “She was an easy target, my bloodlust drove me after her”

“Honey” Emily said from where she sat cross-legged atop the bar “You didn’t know who she was”

“This is true” Amélie agreed with a sigh “But she should not be like this”

“Lena is already ill” Emily bit her lip “She had a training accident and lost a lung in the crash among other things, but my point is she gets tried easy.”

Jesse rubbed the cats back “She’ll be okay Emmie”

“Now I feel even worse” Amélie sighed chugging the full glass of wine much to which Jesse protested. “I cannot get drunk puppy” she snapped.

“Yeah, but you can still get alcohol poisoning” He supplied confiscating her bottle.

The bar fell into silence after that comment all eyes on the sleeping human. She had been brought into a world it would take her years to understand, a world where just being who she is will make her be seen as weak. Most _Vampires_ saw those with damaged minds as inferior and based on the anxiety attack Lena suffered, she knew she had some form of PTSD she had seen it many times both during and following the war. Amelie also knew that most _Weres_ valued physical prowess and she was a small girl with one lung, she would be at a constant disadvantage and looked down upon.

As they mulled over their thoughts in the silence, they did not notice the door open, or several people walk in, Amélie was the first to realise there were newcomers when she found herself pinned to the bar by a ferocious hug from an incredibly happy _lioness_. “Sister!” Fareeha exclaimed, which caused Emily to fall off the bar in fright, to nobodies’ surprise however she gripped the edge and peeked over like a lemur with a hiss.

“Cute” Ana said simply as she walked over, which caused Emily to blush and slowly sink back down behind the bar.

“Jesse” Gabriel called “Round of Death Blossoms, now” Jesse did not protest instead he simply grinned and collected a handful of glasses.

Amélie managed to pull away from Fareeha, but she was quickly replaced by Ana, who unfortunately for the French vampire was notably stronger than her daughter and she could not break free not matter how hard she tried, only when she relented did Ana speak “How are you, dear”

“I am good” Amélie replied “It is a good job, I do not always need to breath however” Ana chuckled and pulled herself free.

Jesse went to fill up a glass but found a ginger cat sat before him pushing it aside. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?” he reached over to try it again, but the cat pushed the glass back where it was originally. “Stop it” he sighed, but when he tried a third time, sure enough he found himself surrounded by soft laughter as the cat moved it again.

“Mum” Piper giggled “Stop teasing the poor wolf” she reached over and scratched her mum’s ears, just before the cat jumped off the bar. Jesse now unhindered began pouring the drinks mumbling obscenities under his breath.

Emily watched as Moira climbed up into the booth, so she was sat next to Lena’s head, observing her closely as if she were some form of experiment, something her aunt often did when she found something particularly interesting. After a couple of moments Moira tilted her head towards Lena and leaned forward, she then looked directly at Emily making a come-hither gesture with her front paw. When Emily arrived, she could hear faint mumbling, and saw the sweat on the human’s brow.

“Does she often suffer night terrors?” Moira asked from her now seated position next to the human’s head as she inspected her nails.

“Yeah” Emily admitted sadly “Breaks my heart every time”

“Good” Moira said “It should, we need to do something about these terrors” Emily looked at her aunt and nodded, the women smiled “Now comfort your poor girl while I find something to wear” with that a very naked Moira stood up and walked towards the staff area.

»»———— ★ ————««

London on an evening was quickly becoming her favourite time, the air was cool, the cars were fewer, she liked the way the rain danced in the streetlights as they walked the streets, the rain was not strong but as the taller one she found herself holding an umbrella regardless, Jesse complained he did not want to get wet, that was not all he complained about however since they left the bar.

“I can’t believe Gabriel kicked us out to pick up food” Jesse sighed, which caused Amélie to roll her eyes.

“You are technically working based of the time”

Jesse pushed open the shop’s door and Amélie followed him as the American complained about her response. Amélie found herself looking around at the counter which had some food on display, there were drinks cans and bottles in a fridge by the door, the menu itself was printed above the counters and she was surprised by the number of options available, the prices of which shocked her, but given the difference in times it made sense she supposed.

“Jesse”

“Jamison”

“The usual?”

“Three” Jesse replied “Two Fish and chips, cod” he waited a moment for Jamison to add the items to the order “Two _mixed_ Kebabs and one chip butty with vinegar”

“Drinks?”

“A _Tomato_ Milkshake” Jamison nodded “Thanks Fawkes, add it all to Gabe’s account”

“Hey Roadie!” Jamison turned yelling through the pass “Order in, lets get our asses in gear” with that he disappeared into the kitchens.

Jesse sat down gesturing for Amélie to do the same. “You look confused”

“What was that?” Amélie asked, she raised a brow “What did you order?”

“Well, you’re getting some blood” Jesse smirked “Usual is just burgers and the mixed kebab is both rare and cooked meat for the lions”

“How does he know not to give this stuff to humans?”

“He’s a Hyena” Jesse sighed “Has an insane sense of smell and a fucking irritating laugh”

“I thought he smelt different”

Jesse chuckled “No that’s just him”

»»———— ★ ————««

The guard did not know what hit him. Elder Reyes had ordered him and his unit to Heathrow airport in an effort to keep people safe and watch over Air Traffic Control for any signs of Gérard or his clan, they were expected, the guard had heard tales of how he held power in France within his clan and knew how important this was, but nothing prepared him for a group of mercenaries walking into Air Traffic Control equipped with suppressed fully automatic rifles and gunning everyone down, being one of the last to fall meant he saw his unit, his friends die as rounds connected with their heads and hearts, a werewolf was difficult to kill, which is why you had to disable them fast.

He had only survived because he did not receive what was essentially a kill shot, he had been lucky to be among the humans he guessed and his natural healing had nearly repaired his injuries, but that did not mean there was no pain. His body was on fire, he could feel the muscle regrowing and forcing the bullets out through what had been repaired around it and finally out of the already healed skin. He could taste blood in his mouth as he bit into his tongue to hide his pained gasps from his attackers; for the moment he had the advantage, they did not know he had survived and could hear them talking so he tried to focus.

“… taxi to runway two seven right”

A new voice spoke up “Yankee one seven, cleared to land, runaway two seven right”

“Yankee one seven to Control, please confirm we have low visibility” came through the speakers and the order was repeated as several of the attackers made their way into the elevator. The man who had been speaking waited for confirmation and made his way towards the guard, it appeared they knew all along.

“Welcome back wolf” the man looked down at him now with a fanged grin, even if the fangs did not give it away, it was obvious he was a vampire from his demeanour and lack of a heartbeat, which explained how they were able to sneak up on the wolves, he was a turned. “This is going to hurt, but orders are orders, no survivors” the man pulled a handgun from his holster and proceeded to double tap the trigger putting two rounds in the guard’s chest “Silver, not a good way to go, but you are a tough one”

“W-why are you doing this?” he could feel the liquid sliver draining from the hollow bullets and into his blood.

“Gérard is landing shortly” the vampire said simply “He needed a distraction. Goodbye little wolf”

The vampire moved on to join his conspirators, the wolf rolled over with a hiss of pain and tried dragging himself to the console, he could see a plane through the windows on decent pattern. With renewed efforts he reached the machinery and managed to pull himself upwards using the console for balance and could now see another plane waiting on the same runway, he went to use the microphone in an effort to warn the pilots, but another shot went though his leg and he fell.

“Persistent, I will give you that” the vampire said from the elevator door, which he was holding open, he watched the vampire give a wave and sneer at him as the elevator door closed.

The guard felt the silver burning inside more violently now as it reached most of his organs, he tried to keep his eyes open as he took his phone from his pocket, but before he could dial his strength gave out and he dropped it, the last thing he heard as his life left him were the screams of pilots over the speakers and the explosion outside as the planes collided.

»»———— ★ ————««

When they re-entered _The Reaper_ the environment had changed, everyone seemed a little happier. Lena was stood at Gabriel’s side behind the bar, he appeared to be showing her how to mix a drink of some kind. Emily was sat across from her with a rather bright blue drink in front of her, Moira was sat in the booth Lena was previously sleeping in with glasses perched at the end of her nose as she worked on a laptop, which Amélie only knew of from Lena’s memories, the cat was wearing what appeared to be a large bright purple hoodie with yellow sleeves, she did not appear to be wearing anything given her bare legs and feet.

The Amari’s were sat at the other end of the bar in quiet conversation with Piper, which did not last long as the redhead spotted them and immediately yelled “Yippee!” and she was in front of Amélie in seconds trying to get into the bag she was holding, in the end she relented and let the excited cat take it from her watching with a smirk as she ran back to the bar and started unpacking.

Jesse had wandered over to Moira and handed her the smallest package, she gave him a soft thanks not looking up from her work, whatever it was it held her focus was clearly important, Amélie knew the doctor’s habits quite well, whatever it was she would find an answer.

“Amé” Gabriel called, she looked up and he was holding Lena in a half hug and gesturing for her to come over, so Amélie did and looked at the human, based on her expression she was still clearly nervous in the vampire’s presence. “As our only vampire, you get a free drink”

“What is the catch?” Amélie eyed him suspiciously recalling the time he had given her sour tomato juice to drink as a joke.

“Nothing” he smiled and held up a hand in surrender “I’m just teaching our new pet to make the _advanced_ menu” she heard Lena mumbled softly about not being a pet, but Gabriel just chuckled teasingly.

Amélie picked up the glass, it was a tumbler so not too large it held a red liquid with some fruit and ice inside, deciding to get it over with she took a sip and frowned, before taking another drink. “What is this?”

“Red Jubilee” Gabriel replied, “It’s a [Jubilee](https://www.liquor.com/recipes/jubilee/), but for vamps we use blood instead of maple syrup”

“Where did you get the blood?” Amélie asked as she picked out on of the pieces of pear and ate it.

“We have some in our coolers” Jesse replied as he handed Gabriel a burger, and placed Lena’s fish and chips on the bar in front of her.

“It is very nice, thank you Lena” the human nodded, but bit her lip avoiding eye contact.

“Lena, come sit with us!” Emily called from the booth the Amari’s occupied, Amélie found her mother gesturing her over, so it looked like she was joining them, as she passed Jesse, she was handed the ‘milkshake’.

Sitting at a table surrounded by her family was something Amélie had missed, she watched with some fascination as Fareeha picked up her kebab and ate it with her hands, while Ana dissected hers with a knife and fork, she could see the many different meats that were inside, and it was easy to spot the small amount of rare meat that was included but the vast majority appeared to be cooked.

“So, Lena” Ana said after she swallowed what she had eaten “What can you tell me about yourself. I only know a few details based on what Emily has told me”

“Mom” Fareeha said “You’re not at work, leave her alone”

“I would like to know about our little human” Ana said as she speared a piece of meat and placed it in her mouth.

“There’s not much to tell” Lena said softly as she picked up a chip and just looked at it “I was a pilot, I crashed and got discharged, now I work here mixing drinks”

“There has to be more to it” Fareeha mumbled over a mouthful.

Ana cuffed her around the back of the head “Manner’s girl” Fareeha rolled her eyes and Ana looked back at Lena “You do not have to tell us; I am just interested in the girl who may become family”

“F-family?” Lena asked looking up.

“ _Mère, nous n'en avons pas encore parlé_.” Amélie said, but Ana just gave her a knowing smile and the vampire glared at her.

“What do you mean?” Lena looked around the table that had now fallen awkwardly silent.

“Sweetie” Emily said softly “There is something Amélie and I need to explain” Ana smiled around her next mouthful, Fareeha hide behind her drink and Amélie downed her cocktail for courage.

“You’re starting to scare me Emily” the cats heart sank; Lena hardly ever used her full name.

“Do you remember how I said Amélie has been gone a long time” Emily started, and Lena nodded looking nervously at the vampire who had placed her hands on the tabletop “Well we…”

“They are married” Ana said, and both the cat and vampire turned to her in shock.

“W-what” Lena said “N-no” she began shaking her head.

“Lena calm down” Emily tried.

“I thought you were cheating on me” Lena mumbled “But you were cheating on her with me”

“Lena no” Emily said as the human stood up in a panic, her breathing started to speed up as she made her way to the door, but Amélie up and called after her, the human stiffened at her voice.

Amélie walked over to the human, positioning herself in front of the trembling girl and pulled her into a hug “I need you to remain calm, _Chérie_ ” she pulled away and placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders “Can you do that for me?” Lena looked at her, there was sadness in her eyes and fear.

“Y-yes”

“Emily was not cheating on me” she said simply “I was legally dead”

“B-but you’re back”

“I am” Amélie said guiding her back to the table and seating her back next to Emily “But that does not change anything” Amélie sat back opposite her “I love my Elise very much, I always will, but I cannot control her heart”

“B-but”

“Lena” Emily said softly as she pulled her wedding ring out of her pocket “I married Amélie so many years ago and I thought I lost her” she took a breath as she slipped the ring back on, Lena reached up towards her cheek when she saw tears but stopped herself. Emily took her hold of the hand and pressed her cheek against it appreciating the touch “I met you and I fell in love, I love you I really do, don’t for even a second think you did anything wrong”

“I understand you are scared of me, but I promise I will never hurt you again” Amélie said softly “I would like to get to know you better”

“We could go out together!” Emily said happily “To a restaurant or something and break the ice”

“I…” she looked between them “Are you saying…”

A rather loud wolf-whistle came from the bar “I think the term is Jackpot!” Jesse called with a laugh, Gabriel and Piper appeared to share this feeling, and Amélie heard a scoff from Moira presumably because they interrupted her work. Lena sunk into her chair with a blush covering her face with her hands, Emily started to laugh as did Amélie and Ana while Fareeha just smirked and rolled her eyes.

“We are saying _Chérie_ ” Amélie continued after getting her laughter under control “That I wish to get to know you, nothing more should you not wish it” Lena peeked out from behind her hands “I will say I have no intension of leaving my wife again, but I will not stop her sharing her affections with you” Emily blushed “What?”

“I may have just imagined you two making out” Ana burst out laughing as Lena groaned and hid her furious blush behind her hands again.

“It may be a little soon, _mon amour_ ” Amélie smirked “Unless the _petit ange_ would like that”

“P-please stop teasing me!” Lena said softly and muffled by her hands.

“But you are so easy to tease Sweetie!”

Amélie saw Ana with a grin on her cheeks as she watched with some amusement, clearly pleased with her efforts to embarrass the small human. Fareeha seemed to be having just as much fun observing the antics even if she were not overly involved, like mother like daughter it would seem.

Emily gently reached up and took hold of Lena’s hand to reveal her face “There she is!” she cheered softly as if she were playing peek-a-boo with a child. “Why are you hiding Sweetie?”

At that question Lena’s face radiated so much confusion it was as if she had asked her to explain the meaning of the universe. The girls overly large brown eyes blinked into green as Amélie watched and she had to admit the two were insufferably cute together, plus they both had freckles, Amélie let out a soft groan, god she had a type, cute girls with freckles. Emily seemed to notice this and smirked, Amélie sent her a warning glare that Lena seemed to miss as the cat made a move.

Emily pulled Lena into a hug which startled the human slightly “Not only do you learn that your girlfriend is a cat, but that you might get a second girl!” Lena gave a soft chuckle that Amélie almost missed, Emily pulled away looking at the girl with a massive grin “Was that a smile?” Lena looked down “Come on Sweetie, show me that smile!” Lena looked up somewhat timidly and smiled.

Emily took a hold of her cheeks gently and titled her own head to the side as she observed her human, Lena’s smile grew as she looked from her face to her ears and back again “Why are you so cute?”

“Nu-uh” Emily cheered “You are cuter!” she turned Lena’s smiling face to the side, so she was facing Amélie “Honey, isn’t she just the cutest!”

“Adorable” Lena blushed at her words and Amélie decided she liked this girl very much, she looked over at Ana and received a wink from her mother, and Amélie was struck with a question.

Was this her plan all along?

»»———— ★ ————««

Reinhardt sat in his chamber staring at his old Armor, it had been a long time since he had last needed to wear it and time itself was starting to tire him, he was easily one of the oldest creatures walking the earth. The last of his family, but not the last of his clan. His advisor sat behind his desk opposite him. Her name was Brigitte, in the old days she would have been his squire, how times change.

“I’m getting old” he sighed.

“We are all old” Brigitte replied, she was not wrong but the thing about vampires was their age was not reflected externally, he felt like an old man on the inside but when he looked in a mirror, he still saw a young face with blond locks staring back at him.

“You can do what you need to do Brigitte” he turned to face her “I am just waiting for a report from Gabriel’s agents” Brigitte stood and gave a soft bow before leaving the room.

He turned back to his display at the back of his chamber and found his gaze this time on his Warhammer. He could remember the weight of it, how it felt to swing it, the sensations of using it against his opponents, he turned his gaze to the other side and saw a shield, some had called him an immovable wall, others a walking wall of pain. All good memories.

“Reinhardt” he turned at the call of his name and saw Jack near the doorway “We have a problem”

»»———— ★ ————««

Gérard had stepped out of his private jet, the sirens still ringing into the night the flashing lights attracting all the attention, he had been unobserved, and that was very much to his liking. It had not taken them long to drive to the safehouse he had purchased ahead of time, through several shell companies of course, one could never be too careful.

“I trust everything is arranged?” he asked his agent when he arrived inside.

“Yes, Master” the vampire he addressed bowed before him “The wolves they sent are dead, nobody knows we were here”

“Good” he smiled “Did you dispose of the bodies?”

“No, Master” Gérard looked down at the man this time and felt his demeanor change, he placed his hand on his shoulder and moved it to his chin lifting his gaze.

“Then you have failed me” Gérard said simply, looking him straight in the eyes “They have likely already found the bodies” Gérard took a step back still holding his gaze.

“Please Master, I won’t fail you again” the vampire began to beg.

“No, you will not”

Gérard moved his hand to his hip and the man mirrored his action perfectly continuing to beg for his life to be spared, but Gérard simply stared unblinkingly into his eyes and he lifted his hand as if holding a gun and pointing it at the side of his head, the vampire across from him did the same thing except they held a very real gun against theirs. Gérard smiled as he mimed pulling the trigger.

The vampires body fell to the floor a silver bullet embedded in his skull.

Gérard turned to the others. “Let us begin, we have much work to do” he glanced at the body “Someone clean up _Monsieur_ Phelps, he is bleeding on my floor”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, your thoughts are always welcome in the comments.


	8. Investigations

It had been just over a week since they had revealed the truth to Lena and she continued to take the news of a world within a world with some ease, there were still some minor issues such as her screaming when she saw Jesse walk in one morning as a wolf thinking he was a wild animal, he had simply shifted and explained he was late with a comment on four legs being faster than two, and then left wondering why she ran from the room, It was only when he turned to his locker he realised he was naked, she couldn’t speak to him without blushing for the rest of the day.

Gabriel had been teaching her the drinks in the _advanced_ menu and she was learning them quickly, beginning to recognise how to tell the difference between humans, vampires and weres. It took a load of Jesse and he appreciated it, it allowed him to take his full break for the first time in an age, as he did not need to cover the _advanced_ menu orders, at least not as often, Lena had launched herself straight into this world and was determined to prove she belonged among them.

“Jesse!” Lena called cheerfully “We got a party walking in! All hands on de… uh… bar!”

Jesse sighed with a laugh, she had so much enthusiasm for this job and even though she interrupted his break he could not be mad, she was like a little sister, secretly he had always wanted a sister and was happy to see Lena as one, not that the wolf would ever admit it to her. He set his book aside, the one he was supposed to give to Amélie, he had found a copy a couple of days ago and decided to read it first, he could see why she wanted it back.

By the time he returned to the bar, Lena was busier than when he had left her, the bar was crowded which was strange considering it was a Wednesday evening and sure enough there was a rather large yet not rowdy party in attendance, they were cheering near the bar as Lena was making a line of flaming sambucas, she set the bottle aside and smiled at them and with a flourish she flipped her lighter into the air, caught it with ease clicking it and brought the flame to the end of the metal tray the glasses sat upon.

Jesse watched as the flame travelled down the liquid on the tray and over each glass igniting each one. The party seemed thrilled by this and each took hold of a shot glass, putting out the flames with their palms, a few inhaled the scent as they were supposed to before drinking, others just downed it in one. His gaze moved back to Lena who was already juggling two cocktail shakers mixing the liquids inside. As she caught them and set them on the bar, she spotted him “Oi, quit staring and get mixing!”

Jesse was about to join her when he spotted somebody near the door, observing him for a moment and following his gaze he realised that his eyes were fixed on the young bartender. It was hard for him to see what species they were through the crowds, but he had a feeling they were a vampire on a hunt, it was not too much of a leap. As he walked behind the bar, he stopped by the POS system to retrieve his phone from the drawer below it. He unlocked it and fired off a couple of quick messages before turning to the customers with a practiced smile. “What can I get y’all?”

»»———— ★ ————««

Deep inside the Lunar Hall stood the oldest room, a relic of a bygone age, three stone thrones on a dais looking down upon a receiving area marked with six marble columns leading from the entrance like a corridor in pairs of two spaced evenly apart. Today these thrones were occupied as the Elders sat in session.

It had been nearly twenty years since this had occurred it was a rarity; people were often received in the resident Elders chamber and the others would meet with them if needed privately. This was not one of those times, they needed to address the arrival and subsequent disappearance of Gérard Lacroix and the chaos her had wrought.

Gabriel had dispatched several of his own pack in an effort to prevent or at least warn them something was coming, yet all lives were lost, they were found murdered their leaders blood flooded with Silver nitrate. The _Were_ Elder was understandably compromised by this, but he did not let that get in the way of his duty.

Reinhardt had ordered a group of Knights to investigate the airport and search for any information about Gérard and where he had gone, the leader of these Knights was standing before them to report in, and unfortunately as Reinhardt and Gabriel had expected, they had found little.

“So, what, you’re saying you found nothing?” Jack complained loudly causing those in attendance to murmur among themselves.

“Jack” Gabriel chastised glancing at the man in anger, before turning his attention to the Knight “Do you have anything that may shed some light on this? Anything at all?”

“Our only clue is the body that was dumped in the Thames” the agent replied “We identified him as Chandler Phelps, he went missing about six years ago, yet here he is in London, a vampire”

“That matches Gérard’s ways” Moira chimed in from where she stood to the left of Jacks throne “People in France tend to go missing and then turn up either dead or dying most of the time they’ve been Turned”

“I can pull missing persons records” Gabriel’s advisor replied “We could then use our access to London’s cameras to look for any facial matches, if Gérard is here, he will go under the radar so finding his people may be our only chance to track him”

“Yes” Reinhardt agreed “You do that Olivia” he sighed “One thing we need to all be mindful of is that these people are not vampires, not really”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

“They were at first” Brigitte looked over from where she stood next to Reinhardt “But some vampire bloodlines allow some variant of control, Lacroix from my research allows them enthral, Gérard is one of the oldest vampires in existence, he has had multiple lifetimes to master this ability”

“They serve him as a Master” Reinhardt explained “I met several of them during the war when he was an Elder in France he enthralled enemy soldiers and used them as spies, they followed his every instruction and he could compel them to do anything he desired within reason, all he had to do was make eye contact and this was over seventy years ago, if he has found a way to remove their ability to freely choose, who knows what he could do”

The room fell silent at that before Moira spoke up “If he is fighting free will, that could explain why he is after Gilliard girl” she moved forward so she was in front of the Elders to address them “Her bloodline allows her plant suggestions in peoples minds, if he had access to that ability as well as his own”

“Genji” Gabriel said looking towards the Agent “I want you and your agents to keep an eye on Miss Oxton and the Guillard’s, if you need anything or anyone to ensure their safety you come directly to me”

“Of course,” Genji replied with a bow.

“This session is adjourned” Reinhardt said, standing and clapping his hands once. “Moira please get me all your information on these bloodlines”

“Understood Elder” Moira bowed.

»»———— ★ ————««

Emily had grabbed her coat as soon as she had read the message leaving a very confused Amélie in her wake before she turned back and peeked around the doorframe “Picking up Lena!” and then ran on her way as she heard her wife laugh as the door closed.

The drive was uneventful and had been rather quick thanks to their being little to no traffic which was a rarity in London, so she had made good time and found herself leaning against her car as she waited outside _The Reaper’s_ service entrance.

Jesses message had worried her, Lena had barely recovered from her encounter with Amélie’s bite, which was worrying in itself as it should not have affected her as much as it had, and it was not the fact she had caught another vampires interest that worried her, it was where she was when it happened. She sighed and tried to ignore her thoughts about what might have happened should they have succeeded, thankfully Jesse opened the door leading a very vocal Lena outside by her hood as the brit tried to fight against him.

“Stop dragging me Furball” she complained “I can walk you know, tell me what the hell’s going on!”

“We are going outside” Jesse deadpanned.

“No shit Sherlock!” Lena tried again to pull away “Let go of me!”

“Hey Sweetie” Emily said between her laughs at Lena’s protests.

“Em?” Lena stopped fighting against the wolf, who finally her go. Lena smiled and ran to her giving her a hug “What’s going on?” she said into her neck as Emily returned it.

“There was a vamp eyeing you up” Jesse admitted “I got Emmie to come get you, so you didn’t end up being a snack”

“Why didn’t you just tell me!” Lena replied pulling away “I would have called a taxi”

“A taxi would not stop him” Emily replied “If he wanted you, he would get you”

“So, what stops him getting me with you?” Lena asked with a raised brow. Emily simply smiled a toothy grin “One very angry tiger” she stepped forward and cupped the human’s cheek “I protect what is mine” Lena blushed.

“If you start fighting your wife for the little one’s affection, I want a front row seat” Jesse said as he walked back inside.

After ushering her blushing girlfriend into the passenger seat, Emily took her place behind the wheel and reversed out of where she had parked and took them down the road back to her flat. Lena was silently observing the world around her and the cat appreciated her company it was nice, especially now she knew her human was safe.

“Were you serious by the way?” Lena suddenly asked her gaze still looking out the window.

“About what?” Emily asked as she flicked on the indicator.

“About me moving in with you and Amélie”

“Of course, Sweetie” Emily glanced over, and Lena was playing with her hands, her gaze now directed out the windscreen.

“I know but… I don’t wanna cause any trouble”

“Lena, we want you to be safe” she smiled “I love you to bits and want to be there for you”

“I remember you offering before”

“I did, but you never told me why you said no”

“I’m scared” Lena started to cry “I’ve been on my own all my life, I don’t want to mess up what we have”

“Oh Sweetie” Emily reached over and took hold of her hand “You won’t, I love it when you sleep at my place, waking up and seeing you curled up in the guest room or on my sofa makes my morning”

“What about Amélie” Lena asked with a sniffle.

“It was actually her suggestion that I ask again”

“R-really?”

Emily let go of Lena’s hand and dropped gear so she could make the final corner into the parking area outside her flat “She wants to make things right between you and knows how much you mean to me” she pulled into her parking space and was silent while she straightened the car. “Now how about you dry those pretty eyes, and we go inside and see the wife”

“Your wife” Lena chuckled.

Emily smirked “I don’t mind sharing” her eyes locked onto Lena’s cheeks as they turned rosy, and she rubbed the back of her neck.

Once they were out of the car, she made sure Lena was presentable and it that it would not be immediately obvious that Lena had been crying a little. They shared a hug and Emily noticed a small mark on her neck as she pulled away, she knew it as a vampire clan marking, a drop of Amelie’s blood inked into her skin like a tattoo.

Ignoring it for the moment she led Lena inside and smiled as she opened the front door and allowed Lena to enter first, she followed behind and locking it behind them, once they were in the living room Emily called out that they were home.

Amélie appeared from the kitchen and seized the human in a hug much to her embarrassment. “No biting!” Lena said as she pulled away, Amélie chuckled and looked at her with a cheeky grin.

“Aww” Amélie flashed her fangs “But you are so tasty, _Chérie_ ” with that the three of them shared a laugh, over the past week Lena and Amélie had entered an uneasy friendship, however the human still seemed to be a little uncomfortable in her presence at times.

“So” Lena said as she hopped over the back of the sofa, landing in the middle, which had become her seat, grabbing the TV remote “Movie night? Amélie has so much to catch up on”

“This is true” Emily agreed receiving a glare from her wife, she just smiled in response.

“What should we watch?” Lena asked rhetorically there was a silence while Lena flicked through the movies on screen, Emily had taken her coat off and was in the process of pouring herself some juice when Amélie joined her, she put the juice bottle back in the fridge and gently pulled her wife towards her placing a hand at the back of her head to guide it down so they could touch their foreheads together.

“When were you going to tell me, you marked Lena?” Emily asked softly and Amelie’s eyes widened.

“I need her to be safe” she replied sadly “A blood mark, shows she is ours” her voice took on a possessive tone that she had not heard since they married “I will not allow harm to come to her” Emily smiled and kissed her wife.

“She is ours” Emily said “We will keep her safe” she pulled away and went back to the counter for her juice and was in taking a drink when Lena suddenly spoke while peaking over the back of the sofa.

“Em…” Emily saw the completely mortified expression on her face and wondered what was wrong before Lena revealed her thoughts “She hasn’t seen Star Wars!”

“Oh my god” Emily met Lena’s gaze with wide eyes and then they both looked at a very confused Amélie.

“What is Star Wars?”

“You know what this means!” Lena cheered.

“Movie marathon!” Emily was bouncing on her toes in excitement.

“Not the sequel trilogy” Lena blew a raspberry “Just the first six”

“Deffo” Emily agreed “We need pizza!” she said pulling her mobile from her pocket.

“Do I get any say in this?” Amélie asked.

Both girls turned to her “No” they said in unison.

»»———— ★ ————««

Angela was sat in a lab well after her shift looking into a microscope. Her blood was sat in a slide, she had been doing research into the differences between Purebloods and the Turned and she wanted to see if there was a way, she could improve her new life. The answer had to lie in their blood.

Or perhaps it was blood in general, she needed it quite often to survive and was trying to go as long as she could between feedings, even the purebloods needed human blood to survive. Her sires’ blood had been forced down her throat and she could remember every sensation as her body reacted to it, changed her and she had died, but something had to be preserving her. She looked down at her hands, she was not decomposing even though she was dead.

“Why are you torturing yourself” Moira asked as she entered.

“I’m dead, I’m a walking corpse Moira” Angela sighed “There has to be a way to give me some form of life again” she looked up and saw Moira looking through some of her files near her desk, she always forgot that this was Moira’s lab, and that she was only a guest here, she looked near the door and saw her daughter looking lost, so Angela gave her a wave.

“Hi Doctor Zeigler!” Piper cheered and wandered over to give her a hug.

“Hallo” Angela greeted returning the hug with a smile.

“Piper let her go please” Moira said as she wandered over, looking through a folder, Angela pulled away from Piper and Moira looked as if she were about to ask her something when she noticed Angela’s computer screen, she frowned and peered into the microscope connected to it. “Is this your blood?”

“Yes, I was hoping I could find a clue about why I’m still walking around” when she looked at Moira, she had a haunted look in her eye as she looked at the folder again. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re coming with me, right now” Moira’s tone made it clear this was not a suggestion “Piper, go home” she closed the folder.

“Moira, please tell me what’s going on”

“I think I know what bloodline sired you” Moira admitted grabbing Angela’s hand and dragging her from the room as a confused Piper just waved them goodbye “I hope I’m wrong”

»»———— ★ ————««

Gabriel pushed the vampire into the alleyway, the vampire spun towards him, Gabriel just kicked him in the stomach, so he fell onto his back as he rolled up his sleeves. He glared down at the vampire who looked up at him in defiance. Gabriel almost laughed it had been a while since someone was stupid enough to hunt at _The Reaper_ , but it was even longer since he looked at someone and saw that they had no idea who he was.

“What is your interest in Lena Oxton?” Gabriel asked.

The moment the Elder session was over, Gabriel had checked his phone and saw a cryptic message from Jesse. He had been furious for two reasons, the first was somebody was seemingly hunting his friend, the second was that they were using his bar to do it. Upon arrival Jesse had given him the rundown as to what had happened, and Gabriel began his search. It had not taken long as the vampire remined outside the bar as if waiting for Lena to resurface.

“A snack” the vampire snarled, Gabriel raised a brow, the vampire was French.

“You should at least try to hide you accent when spying” Gabriel chided “I take it you are here for Gérard”

“She is a human, why do you care?”

“Firstly, _The Reaper_ is neutral ground” Gabriel explained “No hunting allowed. Secondly, she is a friend and member of my staff, so once again what is your interest in her” he leaned forward threateningly being careful not to make direct eye contact “Do _not_ lie again”

“I was sent to find somebody” the vampire admitted “The human was marked by her; she would have led me to my target”

Gabriel smiled at that, the vampire had revealed exactly what he needed to know, he allowed the vampire to stand and watched him closely, waiting for an opening but he did not get the chance as the vampire lunged at him.

In seconds Gabriel was on his back with the vampire’s sharp teeth snapping for his neck, he pushed him off with ease and stood up, he cracked his neck and knuckles as the vampire also stood back up. Gabriel was going to end this quick, but the vampire had dirtied his waistcoat, his _favourite_ waistcoat, that he would not forgive.

Gabriel unbuttoned it as the vampire lunged, he sidestepped as she slid the coat off his shoulders walking over to the railing near the staff entrance and carefully hanging it on the edge. He turned to the vampire who was eying his suspiciously, Gabriel just loosened his tie, unbuttoned his shirts top button, and waited.

He did not have to wait long before it lunged again, this time he met it head on, it threw two punches that connected with his side, but he moved into them closing the gap and brought his own fist into the vampire’s gut and then his other hand into its throat as it staggered back. The vampire hissed shaking its head looking dazed, Gabriel moved closer in an effort to finish it realising too late it was a trap as the vampire brought its claws across his face. Gabriel staggered back this time, already feeling his skin healing, he hated that bloodline, it had been a long time since he encounter a clawed vampire.

Reaching to his back he unsheathed a slim knife, he kept it attached to his belt out of habit, he kept it hidden as the vampire lunged again. He allowed the claws to make contact with his shoulder and charged into him stunning the vampire ever so slightly, it was enough, with as much strength as he could muster, he brought the knife around into its stomach, it howled and he made a sawing motion and brought it up in a jagged arch slicing the chest open, not giving it a chance to recover he pulled it free and aimed higher into its heart.

The vampire pulled free stepping backwards, clutching its chest as if injured and then looked up smiling, it appeared he was fighting a Turned, Gabriel sighed and took on a stance brandishing the knife, he prepared for it to lunge again contemplating how to bring it down, but a sound like thunder split the air and the vampire fell forward into the alleyway, he looked down to confirm his suspicion and sure enough there was a hole in the back of its head. His phone rang, he answered it as he sheathed his knife.

“Really Ashe?”

“What can I say, you’re getting old”

He laughed “Glad you’re back in town” he moved over to the railing.

“Jesse called me” Gabriel could hear the sound of her packing away her repeater “He wanted my help looking after some human girl”

“Her name is Lena” Gabriel said as he began pulling on his waistcoat.

“That’s the one, she must be important?”

“Well, she’s the best bartender I’ve ever had” Gabriel chuckled.

“Can she make me a Manhattan?”

“She can” Gabriel laughed “Even if she’s human, she’s one of us”

“In that case, I’ll do it for free”

»»———— ★ ————««

"It's over, Anakin! I have the high ground." Lena spoke alongside Obi-wan on the TV.

“You underestimate my power!” Emily continued happy to join in.

“Don’t try it” Lena called brandishing the TV remote like a lightsaber and swinging when Obi-wan did making an adorable lightsaber swooshing noise with her lips.

Amélie however missed all of this, she was too focused on the screen as she had been since the opening of the first movie, Emily found it fascinating how the vampire started the marathon sunk somewhat grumpily into her corner of the sofa, but was now leaning forward, quite literally on the edge of her seat. Lena was as motivated as ever bouncing around and miming the actions on screen, it was one of the things she loved about Lena, despite all her setbacks she was a bundle of happy energy bringing light to any room she found herself in.

“You were the chosen one!” Lena spoke along with the character again “It was said that you would destroy the Sith not join them” Emily’s finely tuned hearing even picked up on her voice stuttering a little “Bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!” and sure enough Lena was crying a little when she caught a glimpse of her face. She knew Lena found this scene sad, the human sniffled a little as the scene continued and Emily smiled at her when Lena looked her way, she smiled back.

Emily leaned back after their little exchange and waited, after a couple of minutes Lena made eye contact with her, giving her a grin, Lena appeared to have had the same idea, so she nodded and they shared a knowing smile waiting for the right moment and when it came, they both wasted no time and yelled at the top of their lungs “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” which finally got a reaction out of Amélie who fell off the sofa since she had been sat precariously on the edge, even as the pair laughed Lena was able to pause the movie.

“That was not funny” Amélie complained as she returned to her seat.

“It was a little bit, Honey”

“I’m sorry Amé, please don’t be mad” Lena said rubbing her arm, biting her lip, Emily knew this was not because of them messing around, it was because inside Lena was still scared of the vampire and Amélie was frowning at them.

“You can make it up to me _Chérie_ ” Amélie replied and gestured for Lena to sit in her seat properly, the human leaned backwards and Amélie fell to the side resting her head on Lena’s lap “Now play the movie” Lena fumbled with the remote, nearly dropping it while a blush spread across her cheeks.

They watched the rest of the movie in silence, Lena trying to ignore the vampires head in her lap, Amélie watching intently absorbing every detail and Emily trying not to laugh at her human who seemed to be having an internal battle about whether to play with Amélie’s hair or not based on the hand that kept moving between resting at her side and hovering over the vampires’ head.

“If you are going to play with my hair, _Chérie_ ” Amélie said suddenly “Then do so, if not please stop fidgeting” at that Emily started chuckling which turned into a full-on laugh when Lena shot her a look which could only be described as betrayal.

»»———— ★ ————««

Reinhardt observed the vampire before him with some interest he held the paperwork he had been given in his hand having already reviewed the information which had been exactly what he had requested. Moira stood near the back of the room, he had never seen her so concerned. But this girl, this Angela, was a puzzle, they had originally not known who the vampire that turned her actually was, he had appeared out of nowhere on the edge of death. At least until now, but Moira was wrong.

“You are incorrect” Reinhardt said sadly “But also correct”

“What does that mean?” Moira asked.

“It means her sire was of clan Lacroix” Reinhardt said closing the folder “But not Gérard or his ilk”

“Wait…” Moira seemed to realise what he was saying. “… how is that possible? Her parents vanished”

“Indeed, yet her father appears to have resurfaced” Reinhardt clarified “And in seemingly serious desperation turned this young one, believing that he was the last of his bloodline” he raised a brow at Moira who paled “I think we can officially declare her parent’s dead”

“I will let Ana know” Moira said sadly. “She would want to tell her”

“What does this mean for me?” Angela asked.

“It means you are of the Guillard bloodline” Reinhardt replied.


End file.
